Why Evan McMullin has a real shot at the Senate
And deserves it.
Right now, with just a few weeks until the 2022 mid-terms, there are several fascinating political contests playing out around the nation. Perhaps the most intriguing of all is in Utah, between incumbent Mike Lee (R) and challenger Evan McMullin (I) for a seat in the U.S. Senate. In the closing weeks it's becoming apparent that McMullin, though still in an uphill battle, has succeeded in making this contest close. I think that he's got a real shot to win.
Some of McMullin's competitiveness in this race is baked in. The Democratic Party of Utah, in an unusual move, elected not to field a candidate of their own in this election in order to support McMullin. This means that McMullin is likely to receive not only the majority of Democratic votes counted in a few weeks, but those of independents and anti-Trump Republicans as well. That's likely enough to get McMullin within striking distance by itself.
But McMullin also has other attributes to bolster his chances. His resume is impressive. He's a former CIA intelligence officer with experience in counterterrorism and human intelligence around the world. After the CIA, McMullin earned a MBA from Wharton and then embarked on a career as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs. After a few years in the private sector, McMullin became involved in politics by supporting Mitt Romney during a presidential campaign. This led him to become an advisor to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
McMullin's initial foray into politics as a candidate was an independent run for President in 2016. Though this effort had a less than stellar chance of success, it did give voters who couldn't stomach either Trump or Clinton an alternative that would not make them hate themselves later. I was one of those voters.
Make no mistake - for an independent McMullin is politically well right of center. Just a few years ago he would have been considered a dyed in the wool conservative. It was the takeover of the GOP by Donald Trump and his allies that forced McMullin (along with Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney and others) outside of the GOP. But if the GOP ever succeeds in ridding itself of the taint of Donald Trump, McMullin is a much more natural fit there than anywhere else.
So why are so many Democrats and independents supporting McMullin? It's not hard. He's not a left-wing lunatic and he's not part of the cult of Trump. That puts him somewhere in the middle of the two extremes which currently dominate American politics – a refreshing place for a lot of voters. Though he's politically and socially conservative, McMullin says that he'll respect existing law when it runs counter to his personal positions. Unlike Joe Biden, I believe him.
All of this puts McMullin in a unique place in contemporary American politics. He's a conservative who really is independent of the worst that the GOP has become. If you are somewhere in the center or center right of of the political spectrum, but can't stand carpetbaggers like Trump and his associates, McMullin deserves a closer look.
This election ought to be a layup for Democrats. Though midterms don't generally work out well for the party of the incumbent President, in this case the Democrats and Joe Biden, we are not in ordinary times. We are less than two years removed from the spectacle of rioters, encouraged by then President Donald Trump, storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020 in an attempt to overturn the legitimate results of a presidential election.
The events of January 6 were appalling to most Americans and should have been the straw that broke the camel's back for the GOP. Yet here we are, a scant 22 months later, staring down the barrel of a near certain GOP takeover of the U.S. House and very possibly the U.S. Senate as well.
How did we get here? By a distressingly well-trod path actually - a party stumbling into a bare majority, wildly overplaying what was, in reality, a modest political hand.
Right now there exists, for all intents and purposes, no moderate wing of the Democratic Party (there isn't one for the Republicans either, but they don't control anything at the national level right now). Progressive priorities have been pushed to the exclusion of all else by President Biden and a Democratic Congress since they narrowly ran the table in 2020 – a circumstance that many maintain was more of a repudiation of Trump than an endorsement of progressivism. Nonetheless, it's the Democrats show - and their policies on energy, the economy, domestic social issues, foreign affairs, education, health care, immigration and the like bear the unmistakable and counterproductive taint of leftist fantasy.
In what other alternative universe do progressives, without much fear of being challenged, push defunding the police during a crime wave? Push unreliable (and largely unavailable) green energy during an energy crisis? Push massive government spending during a period of sustained inflation? Push woke social programs that alienate most voters? I think that we may occupy the only one.
The best example that I can think of for why conservatives who can rid themselves of Trump (like McMullin, Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis), without abandoning conservative principles, can succeed, is in Virginia. It's a doozy too.