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Utahn running for president says Donald Trump ‘not a conservative’

Posted at 9:32 PM, Aug 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-28 23:32:46-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- He's a Provo native, a BYU graduate, and a former CIA operative, and now he’s hoping to offer voters an alternative to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Evan McMullin recently sat down with Fox 13 News to discuss why he believes his unusual path can be one that leads him to the White House.

"We need to call a spade a spade here: Donald Trump is not a conservative,” McMullin said.

A look at caucus night in Utah shows what McMullin calls a split between mountain west conservatives and southern conservatives. Trump lost by wide margins in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming during those states’ Republican primaries.

"One of the goals is to prevent Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump from achieving a majority in the Electoral College, which would then cause the race to go to the House of Representatives,” McMullin said.

McMullin acknowledges his path to presidential politics is unusual, but he's already made the ballot in at least seven states, with several more expected soon.

As for the states where he doesn't make the ballot, “In almost every state in this country, you can, candidates can be written in, and where there is real campaign support to those efforts, they can be successful,” McMullin said.

Still, McMullin acknowledges winning the White House would be a long shot. But he said standing up to Donald Trump's message is the right thing for the future of conservatives.

"As conservatives we acknowledge the liberty of the individual to pursue happiness as he or she sees fit,” McMullin said. “Donald Trump attacks people and pits religion against religion, and race against race. This is not consistent with conservatism."