In addition to refusing to take a position on abortion, failed presidential candidate Evan McMullin confirmed to Meet the Press this Sunday that he will not caucus with either party if he is elected this November. He would thus deny the people of Utah representation on Senate committees.
“If you serve all six years,” host Chuck Todd asked, “the entire time you’re in the Senate, you will not join either party’s caucus, giving them, officially, your vote?”
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“No, Chuck, I will not,” McMullin replied. “I will maintain my independence. I will not caucus with either side.”
Pressed again on whether, if there was a situation in which the Senate contained 50 Republicans and 49 Democrats, McMullin would caucus with the Republicans to give them control of the chamber or the Democrats, McMullin again insisted he wouldn’t choose a party.
“Well, look, the parties are going to decide who they choose to lead them. I won’t be part of that as an independent,” McMullin said.
The problem is, if McMullin declines to help decide who will lead a party, then neither party is under any obligation to give up any of its limited committee seats to McMullin.
No senator is guaranteed a seat on any committee. All committee seats are divided up by the two parties and distributed by the two parties. That is why nominal independents Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) both caucus with the Democrats. If King and Sanders refused to caucus with the Democrats, as McMullin is promising to do, then neither of them would sit on any committees.
Maybe the people of Utah don’t want one of their senators to have any committee seats, which is where most Senate work gets done. With no real work to do in the Senate, McMullin will have plenty of time for television interviews, which seems to be what he most likes to do anyway.
