Independent Utah Senate candidate wouldn't caucus with either party, he says

Evan McMullin, an Utah independent candidate for Senate who's backed by Democrats, said Sunday he won't caucus with either party if elected.

"I will maintain my independence. I will not caucus with either side," McMullin said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

McMullin is supported by Democrats in his race against two-term Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. A Democrat ran for the party's nomination, but delegates decided not to nominate anyone following a push from McMullin's campaign. The independent ran for president in 2016, receiving 21.5 percent of the votes in Utah.

The current U.S. Senate includes two independents (Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont) who both caucus with Democrats in a 50-50 party breakdown.

Having an independent in the Senate could also give Utah increased political influence, McMullin said. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), currently the center-most voice in the body, has frequently cast a deciding vote on legislation.

"They're more influential, I think, even than the party bosses," McMullin said of moderates.

Asked whether he would help decide whether Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell earns the title of majority leader in the new Senate, McMullin said he "won't be a part of that, as an independent."

"For the parties and the bosses in Washington, they'll have to decide what this means on their own," he said.

In a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted earlier this month, Lee led McMullin by 4 percentage points among registered Utah voters, 41 percent to 37 percent. The poll's margin of error was 3.46 percent.