Texas man changes his name to ‘Literally Anybody Else’ and launches presidential bid
A Texas man has legally changed his name to “Literally Anybody Else” and has launched a bid for the 2024 presidential election.
Dustin Ebey, 35, said he changed his name so that he could express his dissatisfaction with the current presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
“It’s not necessarily about me as a person, but it’s about literally anybody else as an idea,” the Dallas resident told news outlet WFAA88.
“Three hundred million people can do better,” he said of presidential frontrunners Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
“There really should be some outlet for people like me who are just so fed up with this constant power grab between the two parties that just has no benefit to the common person,” he added.
Mr Ebey, who is a US army veteran and a seventh-grade math teacher in the suburbs of Dallas, said his name change was approved by a judge, and he has now obtained an official driver’s license with his new name.
Under state law, Mr Ebey needs 113,000 signatures from non-primary voters in the state of Texas by May to get his new name on ballots.
The 35-year-old has accepted that this is unlikely, adding that he is “not delusional,” so he is focusing his efforts on campaigning to get people to write in his name on their ballot paper.
“My hope is to have Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and then Literally Anybody Else right underneath,” he said.
“We don’t have a ‘neither’ option on the ballot, and this kind of fills that role,” he added.
Mr Ebey has also launched a GoFundMe page to fund his campaign. So far he has raised just $280.
In a statement posted on his website, Mr Ebey wrote: “Literally Anybody Else isn’t a person, it’s a rally cry.
“For too long have Americans been a victim of its political parties putting party loyalty over governance. Together let’s send the message to Washington and say, ‘You will represent or be replaced.’
“America should not be stuck choosing between the “King of Debt” (his self-declaration) and an 81-year old.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in January found that about two-thirds of Americans were “tired of seeing the same candidates in presidential elections and want someone new.”
Nearly a third of people surveyed said they still didn’t know whether they would back Biden or Trump in November.