Utah Vote Counts This Year

Utah Vote Counts This Year

– By Ed Kociela –

Of all places, Utah has emerged as a Donald Trump battleground.

Utah voters are usually lockstep in line with the most conservative, far-right candidates that the Republican Party can place on the ballot. It is not uncommon for a Republican to win their race with 60 or 70 percent of the vote, making it an exercise in futility for Democrats. Oh, we had a fellow named Jim Matheson who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years. It may sound like a stronghold, but in reality, it was not. Matheson was most certainly not a true-to-the-bone Democrat. He never copped to being more of a philosophical match to the right but obviously was pinker than blue in his politics – a Democrat in name only.

He was elected partially because of his very conservative fiscal ideology but also because he has one of those legacy names in Utah. His father served as Utah governor from 1977 until 1985.

So, you would be hard-pressed to find viable Democratic candidates in the steamy red Utah cauldron.

The challenge this year, however, comes from within as Evan McMullin steps up to the plate as an independent candidate set on toppling Sen. Mike Lee.

Lee made his way into Utah politics when he hip-checked incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett, the epitome of traditional conservatism, over the boards to win the Republican nomination then swept the general election. He was part of that Sarah Palin-Joe The Plumber Tea Party movement that changed things, making party loyalists and traditionalists expendable. Voters unceremoniously dumped Bennett and aimed their sights on the late Sen Orrin Hatch, who got the message and retired before being given similar treatment. Mitt Romney cashed in some of his political clout from his days as part of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the beleaguered 2002 Winter Olympics to become a carpetbagger senator. It didn’t take long, however, for him to wear out his welcome, especially when he had the courage to challenge Donald Trump’s Big Lie.

Lee chose what he thought would be a safer route, supporting the Trump claim about the election. There are texts and messages between Lee and Trump personnel with him asking what he could do to help keep the former president in office.

The essence of the deal is that if you do the math, Romney voted in agreement with Trump legislation more than Lee, who is, by nature, a contrarian who would vote against his mother on Mother’s Day just to make a point. There is a certain enmity between Romney and Lee but with the latest polls revealing that McMullin is in the hunt for the Senate seat, he courts Romney for an endorsement, which means more money for the campaign coffers.

This all matters, of course, because of the neck and neck race to control the United States Senate. Lee, of course, would continue as a hardline conservative while McMullin promises he would not caucus with either party, although his ideology certainly falls within the traditional Republican boundaries. McMullin for sure, is no Bernie Sanders, but as an independent, however, he would most definitely be more apt to consider the Blue Team perspective now and then than Lee. He did, in fact, endorse Joe Biden in the last election.

There is however, value in following this race because if McMullin musters a decent showing in a place as decorously red as Utah it could mean the Trump mantel is unravelling and we can, hopefully, put him up on a shelf and get back to business without his constant yapping. That is why the Democrats took an interesting path and did not nominate somebody to run against Lee and have thrown their support behind McMullin.

He put together a poorly organized team to challenge Trump last election but fell far short of getting on all of the necessary ballots. But, he scratched his name in the ground as he went after Trump, who he said “poses a true threat to our national security by carrying Putin’s water in the United States.”

McMullin also had harsh words for Trump supporters.

“Anybody who supports Donald Trump is someone who I think is not too committed to the Constitution,” he said. “I believe Donald Trump poses a true threat to our Constitution and those who support him are sustaining that threat.”

Trump, in reply, used his playground taunts, referring to McMullin as “McMuffin” and saying “I never even heard of this guy before. Nobody did.”

That would be a result of McMullin’s career in the CIA where he worked for 10 years overseas on counterterrorism and intelligence operations as an operations officer in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.

Under normal conditions, I probably wouldn’t give McMullin a second look, to be honest. But, I grudgingly acknowledge that he represents the “anybody but Trump” crowd. And, I feel sorry for the Democrats who are so disillusioned that they did not run anybody against Lee. It certainly must be disappointing to Democrats to throw in the towel and line up behind a moderate conservative. But facts are facts and do they really want to throw good money after bad?

Meanwhile, current polling places McMullin in a sniper seat, well within reach of taking down Lee on election day with numbers pretty much within the margin of error.

So, while it is true that electing McMullin to a seat in the Senate would do little to secure a Democratic majority, it could be an indicator that the Trump era is drawing to a close and will likely end with an indictment or two against the former president.

McMullin, for all of his worldly experience, is a bit naïve in his belief that the ragged extremism now in place in politics can be overcome. Certainly, it can, but not in the short term. That will take some time.

We are stuck with it as long as Republican stalwarts shiver in their boots, believing he can break their campaigns and as long as the unwashed masses continue to believe the Big Lie.

And, although I cannot line up with McMullin’s politics, I do admire his courage for breaking from his many fellow Utahns who would follow Trump over the cliff.

I will definitely be watching come election night to see how effective his efforts to end the MAGA influence have been.

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