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Evan McMullin Says He’s Not a Trump Spoiler

But with a majority of filing deadlines passed, his opportunities are limited

Donald Trump challenger Evan McMullin says, "We are going to fight and scrap and crawl all the way to the end," But there might not be many places to do that. (EvanMcMullin.com)
Donald Trump challenger Evan McMullin says, "We are going to fight and scrap and crawl all the way to the end," But there might not be many places to do that. (EvanMcMullin.com)

Evan McMullin wants to be the face of the #NeverTrump movement, although his path to that is narrow. 

McMullin, a former CIA operative and foreign policy adviser for the House Republican Conference, entered the race on Monday as an independent and said that he wants to be an alternative for people who don’t like Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. 

[GOP Trump Critic Launches Independent Run]

He said that he is not a spoiler for Trump since Trump is already way down in the polls. 

“Donald Trump is already losing to Hillary Clinton. I just entered this race yesterday. He’s already doing very badly,” McMullin said CNN. “Trump is weak. Trump is a weak candidate and he is losing badly to one of the most unfit Democratic candidates to appear before the American people in quite some time.” 

But McMullin has no clear path to victory. 

He has missed the filing deadlines in a majority of states that add up to enough electoral votes to win,  according to a Roll Call analysis of the 50 state filing deadlines for independents to gain ballot access. His best chance might be in his home state of Utah, where the filing deadline for an independent is August 15. Before McMullin got into the race, the state was not seen as a safe bet for Trump. The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call rating of the state went from “Safe Republican” to ‘Republican Favored.”

[Rating Change: Utah No Longer Safe for Donald Trump]

Even if McMullin won all of the states where he can get on the ballot, it would still leave him 40 electoral votes short of the necessary 270 to win the presidency. 

McMullin told CNN that he will be on “a broad number of ballots and will still try to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. “We are going to fight and scrap and crawl all the way to the end,” McMullin said. 

[McMullin Presidential Run an Uphill Battle, per State Filing Deadlines]

McMullin believes that Trump is unfit to be president. 

“He’s inhuman. I don’t think he cares about anyone but himself,” McMullin said on Good Morning America. “I do believe he is a fraud and a con man.”

He doesn’t think Clinton is much better. 

“Hillary Clinton is a corrupt career politician who has recklessly handled classified information in an attempt to avoid accountability and put American lives at risk including those of my former colleagues,” McMullin said in a “Letter To America” that he posted on his website. She fails the basic tests of judgment and ethics any candidate for President must meet.”

“Our country needs leaders who are in it for the right reasons and who actually understand what makes this country the greatest on Earth,” McMullin said. “Leaders who will unite us and guide us to a prosperous, secure future, beyond the dysfunction of a broken political system.”

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