With just days to go before the 2016 election, the Republican-leaning state of Utah is still up for grabs - but it could be claimed by former CIA operative Evan McMullin instead of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

Mr McMullin, a self-professed "nobody" who has risen through the political ranks since joining the campaign in August, could be another dreaded "October surprise" for either Mr Trump or Ms Clinton.

The former investment banker and operative turned candidate has outstripped interest in other independent candidates like Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, with the help of his strategist, Mandy Finn.

If Mr McMullin took the state of Utah, which has been Republican-leaning for 50 years, along with its six electoral college votes, it could push Mr Trump off course just as he had narrowed the gap with Ms Clinton after the FBI announced it would reopen the investigation into her emails.

Trump supporter William Johnson called Mr McMullin a "closet homosexual" and tried to smear him by pointing to his mother who married another woman after divorcing his father.

Mr McMullin, who said he joined the race as he was tired of Mr Trump’s heated rhetoric, responded the attack was consistent with "Trump’s bigoted, deceitful campaign and vision for America. Utahns won’t be fooled."

Rick Wilson, a veteran GOP strategist who is advising the campaign, told the LA Times: "We wanted a place for conservatives to say, ‘I cast a vote in 2016 that I didn't feel I had to take a shower in bleach after'."

The 40-year-old so-called member of the “Mormon mafia” - Utah is 60 per cent Mormon - said he was not aiming to win 270 votes, but earn enough electoral votes to block both the mainstream candidates.

University of Birmingham US politics professor Scott Lucas said there was "certainly a possibility" he could win, as he appeals to Mormons who have been repelled by Mr Trump’s comments about immigrants and women.

"Utah should be a solid Republican state hands down, but a lot of Mormons were very unsettled by Trump," he told News.com.

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Utah Republicans were also vocal after the release of a 2005 video which showed the nominee bragging to Billy Bush about grabbing women’s genitals and doing "anything he wanted" with women as he was a "star". Utah governor Gary Herbert withdrew his endorsement.

But Larry Sabato, director of the centre for politics at the University of Virginia, said Mr McMullin’s success was very unlikely.

"Some of these states are tops that are spinning, they go one way one day and another way the next.

"But right at the end, due to FBI director [James Comey], weak partisan Republicans have decided to vote Trump. Comey is responsible for a lot of it [Trump’s likely success in Utah]."

Mr Comey announced last Friday that his team were taking investigative steps after they found new emails that were “pertinent” to the now closed investigation of Ms Clinton and the alleged misuse of her personal email server when she was secretary of state. Although the emails are reportedly linked to the investigation of disgraced Democrat Anthony Wiener, very little information about the emails or the investigation has been given.

Mr Sabato added that no other candidate except Mr Trump or Ms Clinton would win the election overall.