Evan McMullin has launched an independent presidential bid. If you ask, āEvan who?ā You wouldnāt be alone.
McMullin is a former CIA officer. He is a Wharton graduate, businessman and policy wonk. He just resigned as the chief policy director for the House Republican Conference in order to run for President.
He has been a vocal Never Trump guy for some time.
https://twitter.com/Evan_McMullin/status/708086278642929665
https://twitter.com/Evan_McMullin/status/708430744734015489
https://twitter.com/Evan_McMullin/status/729026862731513856
https://twitter.com/Evan_McMullin/status/730505730030211078
https://twitter.com/Evan_McMullin/status/756321044911099904
He had this to say on Facebook.
Beyond name recognition his biggest challenges are fundraising and ballot access. He will have some help as ABC News reports:
The operatives working on McMullinās bid resigned from Better for America in order to push his candidacy. Better for America, a 501(c)(4) organization that cannot officially endorse or back McMullinās bid, has been working for months on trying to select a candidate and get on ballots throughout the country. In some states, like Texas, they will likely have to sue to get on the ballot. A 501(c)(4) is an issue-based nonprofit that can raise unlimited funds and does not have to disclose its donorsā¦.
ā¦McMullinās candidacy, backed by some Republicans, shows how the āNever Trumpā movement is still working to upend Trump even with less than three months left until the general election. McMullin may be a long shot, but will have a legitimate organization behind himā¦
ā¦The group says prominent Republicans will back McMullin, who has some well-known GOP operatives working behind the effort, including Republican consultant Rick Wilson and Florida-based pollster and operative Joel Searby. Better for America has been funded in part by John Kingston, a Boston-based conservative donor who bundled for Mitt Romney.
His campaign posted the following biography:
Evan McMullin was born in Provo, Utah on April 2, 1976 to David McMullin, a computer scientist, and Lanie (Bullard) McMullin.
He graduated from Auburn High School in Auburn, Washington, and earned a Bachelorās degree in International Law and Diplomacy from Brigham Young University (BYU) and a Masterās of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Evan served as a Mormon missionary in Brazil and Volunteer Refugee Resettlement Officer in Amman, Jordan on behalf of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
On September 11th, 2001 Evan was in training at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. He completed his training and repeatedly volunteered for overseas service in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, spearheading counterterrorism and intelligence operations in some of the most dangerous places on earth.
Having completed his CIA service, in 2011, McMullin transitioned to the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked with companies in several industries, including technology, energy, consumer goods, biotech, industrials and real estate on capital raising projects and mergers and acquisitions.
In 2013, McMullin joined the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as a senior advisor and later became the chief policy director of the House Republican Conference.
He declared his candidacy for President of the United States on August 8, 2016, saying āIn a year where Americans have lost faith in the candidates of both major parties, itās time for a generation of new leadership to step up. Itās never too late to do the right thing, and America deserves much better than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton can offer us. I humbly offer myself as a leader who can give millions of disaffected Americans a better choice for President.ā
Their focus will probably be on red states that have a distaste for Trump, states like Utah where McMullin has the right background to possibly makes some inroads.
Trump did very, very poorly among Mormons in western state primaries. If McMullin can make the ballot in those states he could very well be a disrupter for Donald Trump.