The Utah Democratic Party is set to decide this weekend whether it will advance a candidate to face incumbent Sen. Mike Lee on the ballot in November as several prominent politicians urge the party to back independent candidate Evan McMullin instead.
High-profile Democrats such as former Rep. Ben McAdams and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson are urging the party’s delegates not to nominate a Democratic candidate at the party’s state convention Saturday, conceding their chances of electing a Democrat in the reliably red state is a long shot. Instead, they are pushing to endorse McMullin, a former Republican who ran an unsuccessful presidential bid against Donald Trump in 2016 and is currently Lee’s top challenger.
“The convention will provide an opportunity for people like me to choose to not nominate a candidate, and I will be encouraging people to go down that road,” Wilson told FOX 13. “I’m playing to win, and I think Evan McMullin has a chance of beating Mike Lee.”
McMullin said he supports the idea of the Democratic Party declining to advance a candidate, as he is seeking to unite both sides of the aisle to create a bipartisan coalition. This may prove successful because, although it’s a reliably red state, Republicans in Utah remain hesitant to back the former president, which may complicate Lee’s reelection bid because he is seen as one of Trump’s strong allies.
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“A majority of Utahns want to replace Mike Lee,” McMullin told the Washington Examiner. “He’s abandoned his principles and the interests of the people, instead choosing to pursue his own ambitions in Washington and even conspiring to overthrow the Republic for his own political gain. A self-proclaimed constitutionalist, Lee has in fact betrayed his oath, lied to the public, and made a mockery of our constitutional system.”
However, Democratic candidate Kael Weston is not ready to back down without a fight, arguing the party has more influence in Utah than they get credit for.
“I’m making an argument about being on the side of voters in the state,” Weston told the Washington Examiner. “Two years ago, half a million Utahns voted for a Democrat. [Joe] Biden and [Kamala] Harris received almost 38% [of the vote], and I received almost 37% in 14 of Utah’s 29 counties … So I believe that elections are about voters and not an inside game by insiders.”
Although high-profile Democrats argue the race would be more competitive with McMullin facing Lee head-on, Weston argued three candidates would be more effective, noting Utah’s last Democratic senator was Frank Moss, who defeated Republican incumbent Arthur Watkins in 1958 via a three-way race.
“I also think the better way to beat likely is in a three-way race, not in a two-way race because I’m worried that voters will stay home. It doesn’t take a lot of voters to stay home, because they feel like their choice has been taken away from them, for that winning coalition to get smaller,” Weston said. “We can’t afford to have that happen, especially after the gerrymander.”
The former State Department diplomat also pointed to recent reports of text messages between Lee and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows seeking to assist the former president in overturning the results of the 2020 election.
“People say, ‘Well, Mike Lee’s got it made,’” Weston told the outlet. “I think these incredibly anti-democratic text messages have just come out, where Mike Lee is literally asking the White House what to say has new voters focused on why we need to get beyond Mike Lee.”
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Notably, Sen. Mitt Romney, Utah’s junior senator, has declined to endorse either Lee or McMullin in the race, saying neither has approached him for one.
Lee holds a strong lead in polling among Utah voters, with 43% saying they would vote for the incumbent to take on a third term, according to a recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey. Another 19% said they’d back McMullin, and 11% are leaning toward Weston.
