Presidential candidate once studied in Israel
Evan McMullin positioning himself as an independent alternative to Clinton and Trump
Evan McMullin, a Brigham Young University graduate who studied in Israel announced on Monday that he will run as an independent in the 2016 US presidential election.
He worked as an undercover operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency and later as a senior national security and policy adviser in the House of Representatives.
McMullin, 40, is unmarried and is a member of the Mormon Church.
In 2011 he earned an masters in business administration at the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and has worked at Goldman Sachs.
McMullin’s campaign will have the support of key players in the GOP’s anti-Trump movement, Buzzfeed reported.
“Like millions of Americans, I had hoped this year would bring us better nominees who, despite party differences, could offer compelling visions of a better future. Instead, we have been left with two candidates who are fundamentally unfit for the profound responsibilities they seek,” McMullin said in a letter announcing his candidacy.
“Donald Trump appeals to the worst fears of Americans at a time we need unity, not division. With the stakes so high for our nation and at this late stage in the process, I can no longer stand on the sidelines.”
McMullin studied in Israel while an undergraduate at BYU as a David L. Boren Scholar with the Department of Defense’s National Security Education Program, through The David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.
He called his studies in Israel “a perfect capstone to the traditional coursework I had done in Provo.”
There is virtually no chance that McMullin, could win and only a slight chance he will even be able to get his name on the ballots of key states.
McMullin has no name recognition across the country and was not even well known in the Capitol where – until Monday – he was the chief policy director for the organizational body of all Republicans in the House of Representatives.
But that will not stop some conservatives from pitching him as an option in the November 8 election for those who never warmed to Trump and remain adamantly opposed to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
McMullin has never held public office.
In addition to lacking a quick source of campaign cash, he will face immediate hurdles to try to get his name on enough ballot papers to make himself a serious candidate.
Texas, for example, requires third-party candidates to get more than 79,000 signatures from residents who did not vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary.
The deadline for that was in early May.
Deadlines to get on the ballots have also lapsed for North Carolina, Illinois and Florida, all large states that also could be pivotal in the election.
The best McMullin could likely hope for would be to simply play the role of spoiler to Trump in a handful of states, eating away at the New York real estate developer’s ability to win states that are generally reliably Republican. (JTA)