Even though Donald Trump is now the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party and faces no remaining competition as he waltzes his way to the GOP convention in July, the #NeverTrump movement says it is not giving p the fight against him. How serious are they? Well, they are very actively discussing the possibility of running a third-party candidate in the November election. How successful might such a candidate be? Not very, based on historical precedent, but even if such a person managed to whittle off only a mere 1 to 2 percent of support from Trump, he would lose by a margin in the Electoral College that might well doom him to being defeated by the biggest landslide in American history.
But who would be the candidate for a third-party run? Here are some of the names being mentioned most often these days:
Mitt Romney
Romney would be able to raise large sums of money, and he does have more than little name recognition among Republican voters. Romney is also moderate enough that a member of the GOP would feel very comfortable voting for him in response to the extremism of Trump.
Ben Sasse
The Nebraska Senator has been out front and vocal in his disdain for Trump from the beginning of the Donald’s rise. And just yesterday Sasse posted this on his Facebook page:
“Why are we confined to these two terrible options?. This is America. If both choices stink, we reject them and go bigger. That’s what we do.”
Sasse may dream of a “bigger” option, but even he has to realize he cannot actually win.
Gary Johnson
Johnson is the former Governor of New Mexico and is already running for President on the Libertarian ticket. He will be on the ballot in all 50 states, so you can check that box off when thinking of Johnson.
Johnson said this week that with Trump looming over the GOP:
“With millions of Americans now feeling politically ‘homeless,’ a two-term Governor who balanced budgets, cut taxes, cut regulations and truly reduced the size of government may offer the home they are seeking.”
Nikki Haley
The Governor of South Carolina is a rising star in the GOP. Haley says she will support whoever the Republican nominee is, but might she want to get a head start on 2020 by being the alternative Republicans are looking for in 2016?
Rand Paul
Many conservatives are smitten with the Kentucky Senator, despite that fact that he fared poorly in the GOP primaries.
Paul is running for relection to his Senate seat, so he could be pressed if he had to seek two offices at the same time.
If the #NeverTrump movement does indeed run a third-party race, it’ll be interesting to see how Trump chooses to dismiss a challenge from his own party as he also has to battle a Democratic challenger. He might be forced to fight a two front war. As history has shown us, those do not end well.
Featured Image Via NeverTrump.org
