Although he has the endorsement of Utah Democrats, Independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin says he will not caucus with either Party if he should win the election and unseat incumbent Republican and guy who’s just asking for some help from his friends Mike Lee, Politico reports.
The move has some inherent advantages and disadvantages should he win the seat. While he would like get few, if any, committee assignments from the majority Party, something that the two current Senate Independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, get because they caucus with Democrats.
On the other hand, if the majority’s margin in the Senate is just one or two votes, being a truly independent means a Party might be able to coax McMullin’s vote in their favor on controversial legislation, much in the way Democratic Arizona sell-out Kyrsten Sinema votes with Republicans to get attention. Of course, that only works if there’s a slim majority in the Senate; if one Party gets 53 or more Senators, McMullin’s status is irrelevant.