Ryan Binkley | |
|---|---|
 Binkley in 2023 | |
| Born | Ryan Lee Binkley November 19, 1967 Columbus, Georgia, U.S. |
| Education | University of Texas at Austin (BBA) Southern Methodist University (MBA) |
| Occupation(s) | Pastor, businessman |
| Organization(s) | Generational Equity Group Create Church |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Ellie Binkley (m. 1999) |
| Children | 5 |
| Website | Campaign website |
Ryan Lee Binkley (born November 19, 1967) is an American pastor, businessman and politician. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Generational Equity Group, which he founded in 2006. With his wife Ellie, he co-founded Richardson, Texas-based Create Church in 2014, for which he serves as lead pastor. Prior, he was a young adult-pastor for Victory World Church in 1996.[1][2][3][4]
In August 2023, Binkley announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2024 election as a Republican, and is participating in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.[5] By October, he had outspent all other Republican candidates in Iowa during the third quarter of 2023, spending more than US$3 million on his campaign operation in the state.[6] He received just 0.7% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses, but decided to continue his campaign.[7]
Ryan Binkley was born in Columbus, Georgia. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and marketing from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. He also has a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.[3][8][4] After Binkley moved to Atlanta at age 24 to pursue Christian ministry, his brother was killed by a drunk driver; Binkley said that this was what led to him returning to Texas.[8]
Binkley worked for Procter & Gamble and Boston Scientific before founding his own consulting firm, the Generational Equity Group, in 2006,[9] which advises businesses on mergers and acquisitions.[10]
|
Main article: 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries |
.jpg)
A member of the Republican Party, Binkley announced in April 2023 that he would seek the party's nomination for the 2024 United States presidential election.[11] Binkley said a divine revelation from God instructed him to run for president. He said the message from the divine came to him in 2016 telling him that the nation is in trouble.[12] Binkley has built his campaign around "solutions for the country", calling himself a "Uniter", criticizing both Republicans and Democrats for being overly partisan. His four major planks include: balancing the federal budget, reducing health care costs, bipartisan efforts to reform immigration policy, and "revitalizing education" to encourage community involvement.[13][12][14]
|
Main article: 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses |
Binkley has been centering his campaign in Iowa, where the first caucus is held, speaking with the local media, and buying $250,000 in radio advertisements.[13][15] Binkley has been long considered a "longshot" for the nomination and has been having trouble differentiating himself from other candidates while on the campaign trail in Iowa.[15][16][17] He spoke at the Republican Party of Iowa's Lincoln Dinner on July 28, an important platform for candidates in the state.[8]
Binkley has been largely self-funding his campaign,[18] while also appealing for donors to help him reach the donor criteria required to participate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential debates and forums.[19] Binkley claimed to have met the donor threshold on August 20,[20][better source needed] but had only one qualifying poll out of the four required to participate.[21] He ultimately did not qualify for the first debate.[22]
Binkley has repeatedly stated that he is continuing his candidacy through the caucuses. He was the first candidate to visit every county in Iowa, dubbed "the full Grassley".[23] He held the third most campaign events in Iowa of any candidate.[24] However, during the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses he only received 774 votes, or 0.70% of the electorate in a distant fifth place behind Vivek Ramaswamy whose showing was so poor he dropped out of the race entirely at 8,449 votes or 7.66% of the electorate.[25][26] However, Binkley celebrated the fact that he received more votes in the Iowa caucus than former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.[27]
|
Main article: 2024 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary |
After his showing in Iowa on January 12, 2024, The Daily Telegraph ran a story about his campaign, mainly to draw attention to the fact that despite other more well known candidates are dropping, Binkley is persisting to push ahead to future primaries and caucuses.[28] On January 21, as Binkley retooled for the 2024 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, The Guardian ran a story where one of their journalists attended two Binkley rallies, which only had two and four participants respectively as Binkley outlined his plans for future contests. Binkley stated "I feel like our message will connect, and I’m keep standing until it’s heard, and until I feel like God tells me to hang up the cleats" and that he was aiming for 2-3% in New Hampshire.[29] On January 22 Binkley told Politico "Listen, if we get a few points, it'd be fine,"[30] Binkley also embraced his unknown status, selling yard signs that say "Who is Ryan Binkley?".[31] Binkley received 315 votes or 0.1% of the electorate, losing to Donald Trump.[32]
|
Main article: 2024 Nevada Republican presidential caucuses |
Binkley has most recently shifted his efforts to the 2024 Nevada Republican presidential caucuses where he is the only registered opposition to Donald Trump, since Nikki Haley is instead competing in the 2024 Nevada Republican presidential primary. Binkley shifted his message away from religious social conservative issues to a more financially conservative position to appeal to the more Libertarian-minded voters of Nevada, stating that if is elected president he would balance the budget and pay off all foreign debt in one term. Binkley would give an interview with The Nevada Independent on January 24, however, the newspaper doubted he would do much better than in New Hampshire.[33][34]
As of January 24, Binkley has spent $8 million of his own money to fund his campaign.[33] Due to Binkley being Trump's only opponent, there was a spike in media interest in his campaign, with Newsweek, USA Today, and Deseret News running articles about him and his positions.[35][36][37] Binkley would receive 536 votes in Nevada, or 0.9% of the vote, coming in a distant second place to Donald Trump with the remaining 99.1% or 59,545 votes. Binkley would not contest the Virgin Islands caucuses.[38]
Binkley will be one of ten candidates on the 2024 South Carolina Republican presidential primary ballot[39].
His wife, Ellie, was born in South Korea.[40] They have five children.[40] Binkley is a major donor to Baylor University, where two of his children attend.[12]