Evan McMullin, a little-known former Republican policy director and former CIA agent, is planning to run for president as an independent conservative candidate standing in contrast to Donald Trump.
A source with knowledge of the plans has confirmed Mr McMullin is planning to run following reports from MSNBC’s Morning Joe and BuzzFeed.
Like Mr Trump, Mr McMullin has an MBA from Wharton business school, but he is much more aligned with the policies and beliefs of the Republican party, and formally worked as the chief policy director of the House Republican conference.
“He is running, first and foremost, out of a deep love for this country, and because he understands the true brand of American leadership that is required to be Commander-in-Chief,” an email sent by his campaign to supporters said.
Mr McMullin has been a frequent critic of Mr Trump on social media, calling him an authoritarian and criticizing his stance on civil rights as well as his refusal to release his tax returns.
He is 40 years old, unmarried and has never previously run for office. His candidacy is reportedly being pushed by the “Never Trump” supporters in the party.
“The House Republican Conference has zero knowledge of his intentions,” said House GOP spokesman Nate Hodson, adding that Mr McMullin is no longer employed with them.
In addition to his low-profile and his lack of a quick source of campaign cash, he will face immediate hurdles to try to get his name on enough ballot papers to make himself a serious candidate.
Texas, for example, requires third-party candidates to get more than 79,000 signatures from residents who did not vote in either the Republican or Democrat primary. And the deadline for that was in early May.
Deadlines to get on the ballots have also lapsed for the large states of North Carolina, Illinois and Florida.
The best Mr McMullin could likely hope for would be to simply play spoiler to Mr Trump in a handful of states, eating away at the New York real estate developer’s ability to win states that are generally reliably Republican.
Mr McMullin would join two other third-party hopefuls – Gary Johnson, who was nominated by the Libertarian Party, and Jill Stein, who will represent the Green Party. In recent polls that included Mr Trump, Mrs Clinton and Ms Stein, the third-party candidates have both struggled to get above 10 percentage points each in the polls.
Guardian news service/Reuters