Failed presidential candidate Evan McMullin, who still owes $670,000 in debt from that failed campaign, won the endorsement of Utah’s Democratic Party this past Saturday, but he still refuses to admit he is a Democrat.
His campaign spokesperson confirmed to the Salt Lake Tribune, however, that if elected, he is promising Utah voters not to caucus with either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.
While this pledge may sound nice to the Utah Democrats McMullin doesn’t want to offend by claiming he’d caucus with Republicans, and maybe also the Utah Republicans who would be offended if he’d caucus with the Democrats, McMullin’s pledge is either an outright lie or a promise to be completely powerless when he tries to represent Utah in Washington.
What McMullin is either too ignorant to know himself, or he is hoping Utah voters are too ignorant to know themselves, is that while winning a Senate seat does entitle you to vote and speak on the Senate floor, it does not entitle you to any committee assignments.
The number of senators on each committee is negotiated between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party every two years. Their final agreement always reflects the power breakdown between the two parties based on the number of senators each party has in its caucus.
So this year, while Democrats only have 48 senators, independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine chose to caucus with the Democrats. This brought the Democratic caucus up to an even 50 members with Republicans, so each party now has half of all committee spots. If either Georgia Sens. David Perdue or Kelly Loeffler had won their runoff elections against Sens. Jon Ossoff or Raphael Warnock, then Republicans would have 51 senators, and they would have negotiated a one-seat majority on every committee.
Without joining a caucus, McMullin would not have a seat at this negotiating table. Neither party is obligated to give him a seat on any committee. And unless he agrees to join a caucus, as Sanders and King have, neither party has any reason to want to give him a seat on any committee.
Committee seats are valuable things in the Senate. They give senators more control over the legislation in those committees, and they provide senators with more staff to do work on the areas each committee covers. Senators are unlikely to give McMullin a committee assignment without getting anything in return.
Without joining a caucus, McMullin will have zero power over any committee work, which will be a huge blow to the voters of Utah.
McMullin either needs to come clean with Utah voters and admit which party he intends to caucus with, or he needs to be honest with them and admit he won’t get any committee assignments.
