While the media is dominated by the word wars among and between Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, a pastor from California is trying to pave his own way to the White House, and he is pledging loyalty not to any political party, but to God alone.
Southern Baptist pastor Rev. Wiley Drake, chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, recently announced that he will join the 2016 US presidential race.
Drake, 71, said he decided to seek the US presidency because the presidential candidates from both sides of the political fence seem incapable of solving America's problems.
"I decided to run for President of the United States because we are in trouble in this country, politically speaking," Drake told the Gospel Herald.
The pastor added that partisan politics is not doing the US any good.
"The Democrats have done a lot of damage, but the Republicans have done almost as much. Party politics have ruined this country. It's time we got back to our history of ministers of the Gospel running for office without a party," he said.
On his campaign website, Drake used this slogan: "No party obligations, only to our Heavenly Father." He also stated that he is guided by Matthew 23:23, where Jesus Christ criticised the Pharisees and the scribes.
"When I am elected as president, I will have no obligations to any party. We want to get America back to one nation under God. We, as politicians, need to be responsible only to Almighty God. Not Allah, not some other god, but the God that this nation was founded on," he said.
Drake's campaign platform is also summed up in this simple equation: Justice + Mercy + Faith.
In 2008, the Southern Baptist pastor already ran for US vice president, alongside presidential candidate Alan Keyes. Drake's running mate for the upcoming election is Blossom Brackman, who promises to lead women of "sovereign action."
