Evan McMullin has surpassed the first of many hurdles in his fledgling independent campaign for president: he's on the ballot in one state.

The ex-congressional staffer and former CIA officer, who on Monday launched his campaign as an alternative to GOP nominee Donald Trump, announced Thursday evening that his name will appear in November on Colorado's ballot.

"Our campaign is a little over 72 hours old, and as our online community, small-dollar donations, volunteer base and media presence has exploded, we're thrilled to announce Evan is on the ballot in Colorado," said Joel Searby, McMullin's chief strategist.

Searby added that the Centennial State is just the first of many to put McMullin's name on the ballot.

"Colorado is the first of many states to come as our ballot access program kicks in to high gear and Evan takes his message nationwide," Searby said.

When it comes to the number of ballots he appears on, McMullin has a long way to go to catch up to the other four major and third-party candidates. Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are already set for the general election, while Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson is expected to be on the ballot in all 50 states. Meanwhile Green Party nominee Jill Stein is petitioning to appear on 47 ballots, and is encouraging her supporters to write in her name in the remaining three states.

Stein took to Twitter Thursday, just before McMullin's announcement, to chide him for having made it on to zero ballots, and knocked the media for giving him more coverage than the Green Party ticket, which also includes human rights activist Ajamu Baraka.