--- title: Evan McMullin: Sign He's Serious About Running for President description: Evan McMullin is serious enough about running for president that he's left his day job. canonical: https://time.com/4443459/evan-mcmullin-president/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-08T17:29:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:50:16.250Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's a Sign That Evan McMullin Is Serious About Running og:description: He's left his day job. og:url: https://time.com/4443459/evan-mcmullin-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt019c106e6f106791/6988a19b656a3f5b25bccaa4/evan-mcmullin-for-president.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: evan-mcmullin-for-president og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's a Sign That Evan McMullin Is Serious About Running twitter:description: He's left his day job. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt019c106e6f106791/6988a19b656a3f5b25bccaa4/evan-mcmullin-for-president.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's One Sign That Evan McMullin Is Serious About Running for President by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 8, 2016 5:29 PM UTC  Evan McMullin for President by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 8, 2016 5:29 PM UTC Evan McMullin is serious enough about running for president that he’s left his day job. A spokesman for House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Nate Hodson, confirmed in an email to TIME on Monday that as of Monday morning, McMullin no longer works there. McMullin, who used to be the chief policy director there and is also a former employee of the CIA, is expected to announce an independent presidential bid, hoping to earn the votes of conservatives and Never Trump backers, as [BuzzFeed reported](https://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/anti-trump-republican-launching-independent-presidential-bid?utm%5Fterm=.dtlVGxnLR#.tb1M0xq6e) Monday. His Twitter and[ Instagram accounts confirm](https://www.instagram.com/evan.mcmullin/) he plans on running “because it’s never too late to do the right thing.” McMullin, who was born in Utah, graduated from Brigham Young University in 2001 with a degree in International Studies, then [completed Mormon missionary work in Brazil](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cia-agent-evan-mcmullin-launch-independent-presidential-bid/story?id=41201256), according to ABC News. A poll from [the Hinckley Institute and the Salt Lake _Tribune_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/02/that-poll-showing-clinton-leading-in-utah-it-doesnt-exist/) in June showed Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton essentially tied in Utah, with [unusually high support](http://time.com/4397192/donald-trump-utah-gary-johnson/) for Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and a pool of undecided voters.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4443459/evan-mcmullin-president/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4443459/evan-mcmullin-president/"},"headline":"Here's One Sign That Evan McMullin Is Serious About Running for President","datePublished":"2016-08-08T17:29:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:50:16.250Z","description":"He's left his day job","url":"https://time.com/4443459/evan-mcmullin-president/","keywords":["2016 Election topic","Congress","Utah"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt019c106e6f106791/6988a19b656a3f5b25bccaa4/evan-mcmullin-for-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt019c106e6f106791/6988a19b656a3f5b25bccaa4/evan-mcmullin-for-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"evan-mcmullin-for-president","caption":"","creditText":"Evan McMullin for President","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4443459/evan-mcmullin-president/","name":"Here's One Sign That Evan McMullin Is Serious About Running for President"}}]}] ```