How Evan McMullin Decided to Run for President

— -- Evan McMullin may have missed the ballot deadline submission in more than half of the country, but the former CIA operative still believes it's worth running for president against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

McMullin, who announced Monday that he's running as an independent, has criticized his opponents as “woefully unfit.”

McMullin, 40, said the absence of another viable conservative option for president was the motivation for his candidacy.

"Like many Americans, I hoped that someone would step forward months and months ago. I felt recently that this was the last moment and understanding that no one else was preparing to do this, I felt that it had to happen,” he told ABC News on Monday, hours after announcing his candidacy.

"I’ve been wrestling with the decision for a couple of weeks. It is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made,” he said.

He didn’t arrive at that idea alone, however.

"Someone came to me and floated the idea. And I had a number of conversations with ... people who have been deeply opposed to Trump for quite some time. And so I began to explore it and consulting with my friends and spending time in prayer and I came to peace and decided to move forward,” McMullin said.

When asked directly if he had spoken to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, McMullin said no. He said the same for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who McMullin knew from working at the House Republican Conference (the job he resigned from immediately before announcing his presidential bid) and Mitt Romney, whose campaign McMullin worked with in 2012.

McMullin said he does have a growing support base.

"I have a campaign manager and I have staff and the team is growing very quickly, as you might imagine,” he said Monday. “There’s been just a tremendous outpouring of interest at all levels with everyone from volunteers to donors to really everyone among all disciplines--communications, policy, all kinds of things. It’s just been absolutely incredible. This is only hour two or three. So we’ll see what comes.”

ABC News has confirmed that McMullin will receive support from a new super PAC that was started by two Republican strategists who have previously tried to help independent candidates in their bids for the White House.

Richard Winger, the publisher of “Ballot Access News,” which tracks ballot requirements for independent candidates, estimates that the cost of garnering enough signatures to get on the ballot in all 50 states would cost over $3 million. That said, McMullin has already missed deadlines for 27 states.