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A 35-year-old Texas man legally changed his name to \u201cLiterally Anybody Else\u201d and announced he is running in the 2024 U.S. presidential election<\/a>.<\/p>\n The man, formerly known as Dustin Ebey, is an army veteran and teaches<\/a> seventh grade math at Watauga Middle School, located in Tarrant County, Texas. But this week, he decided to give the world a history lesson and announced his run for presidential candidacy\u2014which, historically speaking, is a doomed mission\u2014out of frustration over the two repeating candidates, former president Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.\u00a0<\/p>\n The name change idea started as a joke last year, Else said in an interview<\/a> with Texas outlet WFAA<\/a>. He started taking it seriously because he realized there\u2019s few other options \u201cfor folks like me who are just so fed up with this constant power grab between two parties that just has no benefit to the common person.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Else legally changed his name at a courthouse in Tarrant County on January 12, and it\u2019s even reflected on his driver\u2019s license<\/a>. But he\u2019ll need 113,000 signatures from non-primary voters in Texas to make it on the presidential ballot<\/a>. Since it\u2019s unlikely he\u2019ll receive enough signatures, per a Guardian<\/em> report<\/a>, he\u2019s campaigning for people to write in his name.\u00a0<\/p>\n Being on the ballot isn\u2019t about himself as a person, he said in the interview, \u201cit\u2019s about literally anyone else as an idea.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Else believes there should be an option beyond the two candidates\u2014one a billionaire and the other a lifelong politician\u2014because they don\u2019t share the same experiences as the majority of the country. He questions whether Trump and Biden are \u201cstill in touch with people like me or people like you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Else said a lot of people he speaks to vote \u201cagainst one of the main candidates rather than for someone they support.\u201d They might not like Biden, he explained, but they\u2019ll vote for him if they despise Trump. He hopes that getting his name on the ballot can be a way for \u201cdisenfranchised\u201d people who want another presidential option to say \u201cneither.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe should have the option to vote for people who represent us,\u201d Else said, rather than voting for the \u201clesser of two evils.\u201d<\/p>\n The sentiment behind Else\u2019s presidential bid is not lost on many people. Taste for a third party candidate has been growing. Indeed, 63% of U.S adults agree that the republican and democratic parties do \u201csuch a poor job of representing the American people that a third major party is needed,\u201d according to a survey<\/a> conducted by Gallup<\/a> in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n The country is home to more than 54 political parties<\/a>\u2013some of the most active include The Green Party, Reform Party, Libertarians, and Natural Law Party\u2013and 37 of them have had candidates run for the U.S. presidency. But historically, third party candidates tend to lose because of how the country\u2019s two-party system evolved, according to a report<\/a> by Third Way<\/a>, a public policy think tank based in Washington D.C.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some influential third-party candidates who have run include Ross Perot, who ran<\/a> as an independent<\/a> in 1992, and Ralph Nader, who made four presidential bids<\/a> under the Green Party in 1996 and 2000; the Reform Party in 2004; and as an independent in 2008. They were all unsuccessful runs.<\/p>\n On March 8, No Labels<\/a>, a group that supports third-party presidential candidates, decided to field a presidential candidate in the 2024 election,The Associated Press reported<\/a>, but its luck has been dry. Earlier this week, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie decided against <\/a>a third-party run with No Labels, joining a list of other big-name candidates, including Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin who refused to join the centrist party.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Christie said he appreciates \u201cthe encouragement I\u2019ve gotten to pursue a third party candidacy,\u201d and feels as if it\u2019s an important conversation to be had, he thinks it could hurt the overall election outcome. \u201cIf my candidacy in any way, shape or form would help Donald Trump become president again, then it is not the way forward,\u201d he wrote in a statement<\/a> on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n And the Third Way report also goes to show how third-party runs can affect election results.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cclose to impossible for a third-party candidate to actually win the election outright,\u201d and candidates often instead \u201cact as a spoiler,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n Still, dreams of a more relatable third-party are in motion in much of the country\u2013as seen by Else\u2019s name-altering decision to address the two-party dominated ballot. And he hopes his name on the ballot will be a \u201cbeacon for everyone who shares the same sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nCan third-party candidates actually win an election?<\/h2>\n
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