Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Reform leader Evan McMullin announces Senate bid in Utah

Evan McMullin

Evan McMullin, who ran for president in 2016, is now campaigning as an independent to replace Sen. Mike Lee of Utah in next year's midterms.

George Frey/Getty Images

Evan McMullin, who ran a third-party campaign for president in 2016, announced Tuesday he is challenging Sen. Mike Lee of Utah in next year's midterms.

Since his presidential campaign, McMullin has been focused on bridging political divides and advocating for government reform through Stand Up Republic, a nonprofit he launched alongside his running mate, Mindy Finn, in 2017. He is the latest in a series of political candidates to launch campaigns focused on democracy reform issues.

A Utah native, McMullin, 45, will again run as an independent candidate. In a video announcing his campaign, McMullin said the country has reached a crossroads with "our streets on fire and our temple of democracy desecrated" — a direct reference to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. He also said partisan polarization is preventing Congress from governing.


"Our politics are broken," McMullin said in his campaign announcement. "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."

Because of this polarization, America faces "crisis after crisis that never gets solved," McMullin said, including "forest fires, water shortages, a never-ending pandemic, the high costs of health care and an economy threatened by inflation and an exploding national debt."

McMullin began his career as an undercover CIA officer soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. After about a decade, he left the agency and graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. McMullin briefly worked for Goldman Sachs before getting involved in politics as a volunteer for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2012.

He then went to work on Capitol Hill, advising Republicans and Democrats on national security issues. During the Republican presidential primaries in 2016, McMullin became a vocal critic of Donald Trump and left his job to launch his own presidential campaign. At that time, he also changed his political affiliation from Republican to independent.

While he garnered less than 1 percent of the vote nationally in 2016, he received more than 21 percent of the vote in Utah. Still, Lee holds a significant advantage over McMullin as an incumbent who last won re-election, in 2016, with 68 percent of the vote.

Earlier this year, another reform-minded candidate announced his bid for Senate in Wisconsin. Steven Olikara, former chief of the Millennial Action Project, is running as a Democrat in the hopes of challenging GOP incumbent Ron Johnson in next year's midterms.

In Massachusetts, Harvard University professor Danielle Allen is running to be the state's first elected woman — and second Black person — to serve as governor. A Democrat, Allen has been involved in efforts to bolster democracy and civic education.

And at the national level, Andrew Yang, who ran unsuccessful campaigns for president and New York mayor, is launching a new independent political party. Two key tents of the Forward Party are ranked-choice voting and open primaries.

Read More

A Witch Hunt Won’t Feed America
red meat in white plastic bag

A Witch Hunt Won’t Feed America

Missouri’s food economy runs on undocumented labor. Turning a blind eye won’t work anymore.

In meatpacking plants across Missouri, hundreds of workers clock in before dawn, keeping one of the state’s most essential industries up and running. Many of them are Latino immigrants, some undocumented, who have become the invisible backbone of Missouri’s $93.7 billion agriculture economy. They’re the ones who process the pork and clean the poultry that end up on our dinner tables.

Keep ReadingShow less
A medical professional wearing gloves, putting a band-aid on a patient's shoulder.

RFK Jr. has publicly challenged the safety of vaccines, although the evidence he cites is widely disputed by mainstream scientists, medical institutions, and public health experts.

Getty Images, Jackyenjoyphotography

Just the Facts: Vaccine Safety, RFK Jr.’s Claims, and Florida’s Mandate Rollback

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is currently the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services and is responsible for shaping national health policy, managing public health programs, and guiding medical research and regulatory frameworks.

He has publicly challenged the safety of vaccines, including required childhood immunizations and COVID-19 vaccines. However, the evidence he cites is widely disputed by mainstream scientists, medical institutions, and public health experts.

Keep ReadingShow less
Presidential Incapacity and the Limits of the 25th Amendment

Lynn Schmidt explains how a strong 25th Amendment would protect the presidency itself "by ensuring smooth transitions and public confidence in executive leadership..."

Getty Images, Pool

Presidential Incapacity and the Limits of the 25th Amendment

The authors of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution established and explained the complete order of presidential succession, as well as a series of contingency plans to fill any executive vacancies. It was written as a response to the weaknesses found in Article II after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and what was learned about the inadequacies related to presidential illnesses and hospitalizations.

It feels like the time is not only right but needed for another updated response.

Keep ReadingShow less
The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

At the heart of the Trump administration’s health agenda is a dramatic reorientation of public health priorities. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared during a Senate hearing last week:

“We at HHS are enacting a once-in-a-generation shift from a sick-care system, to a true health care system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease.”

“Make America Healthy Again” has been met with both praise and fierce resistance. Republican Senator Mike Crapo supported the initiative, saying:

Keep ReadingShow less