Is this #NeverTrump vice presidential candidate the future of the Republican Party? | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Mindy Finn does not fit the mold of a typical Republican.

The 36-year-old media strategist found herself alienated from the party she spent years working for due to Donald Trump’s candidacy, so she decided to join the #NeverTrump movement’s long-shot bid for the White House.

Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin is within striking distance of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in Utah, and his 36-year-old running mate could represent the future of the Republican Party.

Finn, who started a non-profit called “Empowered Women,” is markedly different than Trump, a candidate seen by a large portion of the electorate as misogynistic.

“I have long advocated with the part of the Republican Party that believes in equality,” Finn said in an interview with McClatchy. “The Republican Party today is not willing to stand up for women, minorities, the disabled and people of different faiths.”

Finn was announced as McMullin’s vice presidential pick on October 6, just over a month from Election Day.

“In a perfect world, we would have been able to start sooner,” Finn said. “Both of us thought someone else would run, but no one did.”

McMullin officially announced his candidacy in August, and his bid is being helped by a slew of anti-Trump Republican operatives who previously worked for Romney, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and John Kasich.

McMullin needed a running mate as he scrambled in August and September to get his name on the ballot. His friend Nathan Johnson was drafted as a fill-in until Finn was asked to be his running mate permanently two weeks ago.

So, even though Finn is McMullin’s official vice presidential candidate, voters will see Johnson’s name on the ballot.

The path to victory for McMullin is “a long-shot, which we recognize,” Finn said.

The McMullin campaign is targeting three states, Utah, Idaho and Colorado, where they aim to pick off enough electoral votes to prevent Trump or Clinton from getting a majority. If that happens, the president is chosen by the House of Representatives from the top three candidates.

Finn’s path for the vice presidency is even tougher, as the vice president is chosen by the Senate among the top two finishers. She said Mike Pence or Tim Kaine could be asked to step aside if McMullin wins in the House or McMullin could get assurances from Pence that he would work with him as vice president.

“We would ask them to resign or I could serve in a cabinet position,” Finn said. “This is all a long-shot, which we recognize.”

Finn, who previously worked for Romney, George W. Bush and Twitter, says Republicans need to preach a message of equality combined with small government—and she isn’t hearing either from Trump’s campaign.

“The majority of Americans are dissatisfied with both candidates,” Finn said. Even if a voter “doesn’t agree with us on all the issues, they are against everything Trump and Clinton stand for.”

Finn highlighted three specific policy differences with Trump, overreach of executive authority, immigration and Syria.

“Immigration needs to be reformed, but only talking about a wall is simplistic and disrespectful,” Finn said. “The immigration system needs a secure border, but that’s not simply keeping Mexicans out. We are not going to deport people.”

She also said Trump “fails to recognize that [Vladimir] Putin and [Bashir al-] Assad are committing mass atrocities in Syria. We are dealing with a massive refugee crisis because of that.”

In addition to recent polls in Utah that say McMullin could win the state, Finn says Idaho is also ripe for the taking due to a large Mormon population that does not like Trump’s lewd statements about women.

“I don’t have a clear picture of where we sit in Idaho,” Finn said. “But we are about where we were in Utah a couple of weeks ago.”

McMullin has not been included in any Idaho presidential polls but 11 percent of voters in a statewide poll conducted before the lewd Trump tape said they will vote for someone else for president beyond Clinton, Trump and Libertarian Gary Johnson.

The McMullin campaign has drawn crowds of over 1,000 in Idaho, in addition to large events in Utah.

In keeping with McMullin’s state-centric approach to governance, Finn had a counter-intuitive line to describe a potential McMullin administration.

“He’s going to be the weakest president ever,” Finn said.