This story says independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin still owes his election law attorneys $520,000, from work they did for him during 2016. Yet, McMullin and his attorneys did not file any ballot access lawsuits. He could have been on the ballot in more than twelve states if he had done so. He had a very strong potential cases against Florida, Texas, and Wyoming.
A party called Better for America, which was formed in the spring of 2016 to find a candidate similar to McMullin, did file and win a ballot access lawsuit against New Mexico. Better for America then got on the ballot in New Mexico and nominated McMullin, so he was on the New Mexico ballot because of a lawsuit. However he himself had no connection to that lawsuit. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
Its amazing how many people still don’t realize or won’t admit it to themselves that McMuffin was a republican party scheme to crowd legitimate 3rd parties out and keep people from looking elsewhere than the traditional t̶w̶o̶ one party the Republicrats
I have to ask what you mean, Brandon. I didn’t look into him too much, as he was not on the political side I’d have considered supporting, but from what I gathered he was a “normal” Republican that those who didn’t like Trump could support and not feel bad about. How did he crowd legitimate 3rd parties out? He ran as an independent, and in fact took votes away from the traditional “t̶w̶o̶ one party the Republicrats”.
Could you explain what you mean a bit more, because I must admit, I don’t understand how your claim can be true (why would Republicans scheme to help McMullin when it would hurt their chances a lot of winning the presidency, even if it was Trump?)
Brandon’s point is clear to me, and I agree with it completely. He was asked on more than one occasion why he was running when Gary Johnson was running. His answers to those questions were unconvincing and, to me, sounded completely disingenuous. It’s clear to me his purpose was to weaken Johnson’s candidacy.
I wonder, if the mainstream Republican Party liked what McMullin was doing, why doesn’t the Republican Party or some of its wealthy donors help McMullin pay off these debts?
James, 3rd parties (particularly Gary Johnson) were sweeping polling in Utah. Around July/August, Utah was almost considered a relatively easy win for the Libertarian candidate, a major upset for the other parties. Traditional conservative party movers (notably Bill Kristol) dug McMullin, a mormon, out of nowhere and got him to campaign almost exclusively in Utah all day everyday, crowding out the Johnson campaign who was trying to hit multiple states, and couldn’t compete with a Mormon in THE Mormon state. Had Evan not run, I fully believe Utah would have been the first state to go third party in decades.
McMullin and Johnson combined fell 3% short of Hillary in Utah and 20% short of Trump.
The last poll that had Johnson in double digits in Utah was October 10-11.
The last poll that had Johnson in double digits nationally was October 10-15.
Johnson polled a bit higher in Utah than he did nationally when McMullin wasn’t included in the polls, but it looks to me like his numbers in Utah basically fell along with his national numbers.
Without a doubt McMullin did hurt Johnson in Utah, but this idea that Johnson would have won the state but-for McMullin is stretching it a bit far, I think. The numbers were never quite *that* good.