The Utah Democratic Party is set to decide this weekend whether it will advance a candidate to face incumbent SenMikeLee on the ballot in November as several prominent politicians urge the party to back independent candidate EvanMcMullin 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.
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.
"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.
"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.
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