Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin has named a provisional running mate to qualify for state ballots, but may have no intention of keeping him.
McMullin is an anti-Donald Trump Republican running as an independent candidate for president to give Never Trump conservatives an alternative to the GOP nominee.
In the states where McMullin has qualified to be for the ballot this fall — including Minnesota and Iowa — he has named Nathan Johnson as his running mate. McMullin’s supporters soon began seeking information online to no avail and McMullin’s team had been mostly mum on Johnson until Wednesday afternoon.
“Johnson is a close personal friend of Evan’s who agreed to serve as a placeholder because of the extraordinarily tight timelines an insurgent campaign like ours entails,” the McMullin campaign wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. “Some states required a VP selection on the candidacy forms, and Mr. Johnson agreed to serve in that role, and that role alone.”
McMullin’s team offered multiple explanations regarding how it could remove Johnson as the vice presidential pick, including after the election.
“Mr. McMullin’s electors may simply vote for the person that Mr. McMullin selects as his running mate [regardless of the name appearing on the ballot],” the McMullin team wrote in a blog post. “Even if that was not an option and Evan wins the White House, Vice President Johnson may simply resign. Section 2 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment provides the mechanism for President McMullin to then nominate a replacement.”
Whether McMullin will be running alongside a vice presidential candidate who intends to resign if he wins remains unclear, but the McMullin campaign may struggle to get Johnson off the ballot before November.
Sixty-one days remain until the election.
