The Senate race in Utah is heating up, with independent Evan McMullin making his case against GOP Sen. Mike Lee at a rally Wednesday by tying Lee to former President Donald Trump.
Lee “quickly became a loyal sycophant for the aspiring authoritarian, trading away his oath to the Constitution to serve the unconstitutional ambitions of that one man,” McMullin said at the event, per the Salt Lake Tribune. The rally featured former Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams and former RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
McMullin is betting that Utahans will reject Trumpism, even though Trump carried the state in 2016 and 2020.
“People assume that if you vote for Trump, that means you were a supporter of everything he said or did,” McMullin recently told NBC LX’s Noah Pransky. “And it’s just not the case, especially here in Utah.”
Both McMullin and Lee have also launched new ads this week. McMullin’s spot focuses on inflation, but he also says, “Unlike Mike Lee, I won’t be a puppet for Trump or Biden or either party.” Lee, meanwhile, launched an ad where a narrator says Lee “often stands alone because he’s standing with us back home.”
Elsewhere on the campaign trail:
Arizona Senate: The Huffington Post obtained emails Arizona Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters sent to his college co-op that include one from 2006 where he said the narrative about 9/11 “may indeed be correct, but blindly accepting it would be an error.”
Georgia Senate: Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock agreed to debate Republican Herschel Walker at Walker’s preferred event, but on the condition that Walker accepts a second debate where the candidates do not know the topics in advance, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Ohio Senate: Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan is up with new ads that criticize Republican nominee J.D. Vance’s commitment to fighting the opioid crisis. Vance’s campaign called the ads a “bottom of the gutter political hit job.” And the Columbus Dispatch reports that Ryan’s policy proposals on electric cars differ now from what he called for on the presidential campaign trail.
Wisconsin Senate: After initially signaling he could support a bill codifying same-sex marriage protections, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson said recently that he won’t support it after all, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Johnson also said the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage was “wrongly decided.”
Maine Governor: Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin traveled to Maine Wednesday to campaign with former GOP Gov. Paul LePage.
Ohio Governor: Trump endorsed Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted Wednesday, after declining to back the governor ahead of his May primary. DeWine was one of the first GOP governors to call Biden the president-elect in 2020.
