By Sarah Bahari
https://www.dallasnews.com/
A North Texas school teacher has legally changed his name to Literally Anybody Else and announced he is running for U.S. president.
Formerly known as Dustin Ebey, Else said he is deeply unhappy with 2024 presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump so he requested a name change in January to make a point.
Else’s long-shot presidential bid is attracting widespread attention. On Tuesday, the 35-year-old told The Dallas Morning News he is fielding a flurry of calls from news outlets across the U.S. and as far as Germany and India. Interviews with radio and television stations are piling up.
“People are fed up,” said Else, who lives in North Richland Hills and teaches seventh grade math. “Government is supposed to be by the people, for the people, but that’s not what we have here. We have a billionaire and a career politician.”
Else knows he faces near-impossible odds. Just getting on the ballot will be difficult. In Texas, an independent candidate needs 113,151 signatures of registered voters who did not vote in the presidential primary of either party by May 13 to get on the ballot, per state law. Other states have their own requirements and deadlines.
Understanding that will be challenging to navigate, Else is encouraging voters to write in Literally Anybody Else.
To spread the word, the U.S. Army veteran campaigned before a Dallas Stars game and is considering hosting a campaign event this month. Other than that, he is relying on word of mouth, and Else said he hopes to hire an assistant soon to help field media calls.
Donations have begun to trickle in on his website and a GoFundMe, reaching just under $1,000 by Tuesday evening.
“Literally Anybody Else isn’t a person,” Else writes on his website. “It’s a rally cry.”
“We’re victims of political parties that put party loyalty above governing,” Else said. “We need to a send a message that you will represent the people or be replaced.”
Else grew up in a conservative Christian household, but he said he considers himself an independent voter who tilts right on some issues and left on others. His biggest priority as both a candidate and would-be president is getting the nation’s debt under control, which he said both parties have failed miserably to do.
At roughly $34 trillion, the national debt poses risk to even the youngest Americans, he said, including his 3-year-old daughter.
As president, he would also seek to make health care accessible and affordable for all Americans, strengthen the nation’s schools, support small businesses by reducing unnecessary regulations and reform the criminal justice system to focus on rehabilitation, job training and support for those re-entering society.
Else also wants to address the housing affordability crisis, which he said has kept him and his wife, also a school teacher, from buying a home. They have paused their search for now.
While Else’s wife shares her husband’s sentiment, he said she has no plans to change her name to Mrs. Literally Anybody Else, and she is a little nervous about the attention his presidential bid could attract.
Else said he shares the same struggles as most Americans.
“We deserve better than Trump and Biden,” he said. “I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
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