Former presidential candidate Evan McMullin is running a third-party campaign for Utah Senate against Republican Incumbent Mike Lee.

"Our politics are broken," McMullin emphasized a statement. "And it's putting our country in danger. We need leaders who will unite rather than divide. Washington has left us so polarized that we’re failing to overcome major problems facing the nation and it has to change."

“The extremes in Washington don’t represent Utah. They prevent us from governing ourselves, and they jeopardize our democracy,” McMullin said, adding that he would campaign for Senate not “as a Republican or a Democrat, but as a patriot committed to defending our nation.”

McMullin launched a video where he highlighted his career in the CIA after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He had worked as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs. He’s also worked as an advisor on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and as a policy aide to the House Republican Conference.

McMullin has deep ties to Utah, as his Mormon ancestors traveled West to escape religious persecution. McMullin once served on a mission for the Church of Latter-day Saints in Brazil and has a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

McMullin, 45, ran for the Republican nomination in 2016 and was able to win 21% of the vote in Utah, but only won 0.4% of the overall popular vote in a very crowded field. The long-time Trump critic will have a difficult road ahead ousting Lee who was first elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave.

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