The Utah Senate Race: Mike Lee vs. Evan McMullin
U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah speaking at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo by Gage Skidmore | Courtesy Flickr)
August 22, 2022
On Nov. 8, the Senate election will be held with 34 of the 100 seats up for grabs this year. Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who has been in office since 2011, is running against Evan McMullin.
McMullin is a former undercover CIA officer and chief policy director for Congress who ran for president in 2016 as an independent. He’s running as an independent in the Senate race.
In recent months, McMullin has been gaining traction in his Senate race against Lee, according to Insider. McMullin has also received the support and backing of Utah’s Democratic party for the November election.
Donald Trump’s Influence On the Election
Many Democrats in the state of Utah, including Mayor Jenny Wilson of Salt Lake County, have chosen to endorse and support McMullin in his race against Lee this fall.
James Curry, an associate professor of political science at the University of Utah, said that the support McMullin is receiving this year is largely due to many Utahns disliking Donald Trump.
“Utah, as you probably know, is sort of not a typical Republican state, in the sense that it’s a Republican state for the last couple of election cycles that hasn’t been as enthusiastic about Trump as other, very Republican states,” Curry said.
Lee was the Utah co-chairman of the reelection effort of former President Trump in 2020. Trump received 58.2% of Utah’s vote, according to Politico.
Lee’s endorsement of Trump is one of the reasons McMullin is currently receiving support, said Matthew Burbank, a political science professor at the U.
“Part of what you see, with Lee running as an incumbent, is that one of the things that’s hanging over his race at the moment is how people feel about Trump,” Burbank said. “But there are a lot of Republicans in this state who were never all that comfortable supporting Trump.”
Curry said he thinks the reason Lee’s current ratings are less than those of other Republican officials is because of his affiliation with Trump.
“His approval is well below Mitt Romney and Spencer Cox,” Curry said. “That means it opens the door for somebody who can coalesce some support of some Republican voters in the state who don’t like Trump and therefore don’t like Lee.”
Kelsey Koenen Witt, the McMullin for Utah communications director, said in an email interview that McMullin is gaining momentum in his campaign against Lee, with people from all political backgrounds joining his coalition.
“A majority of Utahns want to replace Lee, and if principled Republicans, Democrats and Independents unite on areas of common ground, we will send a true independent to Washington to fight for us,” Witt said.
Time will Tell
Lee and McMullin are locked in a competitive race, according to the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll, with Lee receiving 41% of voter support and McMullin receiving 36%. A recent poll from the centrist Center Street PAC shows Lee leading McMullin 50% to 36% among likely voters.
According to Curry, while McMullin is currently receiving a large amount of support from Utah voters, this excitement may not last until election time.
“I think he’s kind of in the same position as a lot of Independent candidates where they’re very sort of exciting initially,” Curry said. “But what happens is they tend to poll best in the summer before the election, and they tend to fade as the fall goes on, as voters sort of come back home to the party that they typically vote for.”
One of the big struggles McMullin now has to tackle is gaining the name recognition that other officials have, said Burbank, with the added challenge of having no party affiliation.
“Now, the difficulty, of course, is that one of the things he still needs to do is he still needs to introduce himself to lots of Republican voters who probably may have been aware of him but didn’t pay close attention,” Burbank said.
According to Witt, McMullin understands the hardships that come with running as an Independent but is doing so as a pledge to honor the wishes of Utahns without a party influencing his decisions.
“In a divided Senate, Evan’s independence from the party bosses and special interests will give Utahns a bigger voice on critical issues,” Witt said.
While Lee might have the advantage over McMullin, said Burbank, the election is several months away, and there is plenty of time for public opinion to be swayed.
“It’s a long time until November,” Burbank said.
John Hedberg • Aug 25, 2022 at 4:08 pm
I’m not a big fan of Lee, particularly the way he first got nominated. That said, I have to ask (in humor) whether the author is deranged, trying to assert a false equivalency (guilt by association) by implying that Mike Lee is somehow “the Great Orange Evil” when he has a record of his own to go by, and Evan McMullin does not. I can check and see what Lee has voted yes or no about. McMullin seems to think his lack of a record is somehow an advantage, when most public servants at this level stand out by their prior experience and public statements. It’s like a blind date who’s trying to convince you to take them home, because at least you know they’re not Jeffrey Dahmer! We have no way of judging his qualifications, except for his predilection to take short cuts, which is one of the criticisms Trump faced for never having served in a lesser office before he was elected. I’d rather see Evan run for state legislature first, followed by a US House seat, just so I can get to know who we’re trusting to represent us at the highest level. CIA? What if he’s worse than Trump? BUILD my trust, if you really want to represent me.
If you don’t care about whether you represent me, or care about whether you’ve earned my trust, isn’t that by itself kind of disqualifying? Until it changes?
Mitt Romney was an idiot to vote for impeachment, since Trump would have been prosecuted if he’d actually broken any laws (it was the same FBI Director then as the one who implemented the raid on Mar-a Lago). So, Romney voted out of passion, not contemplative due process, much like his false accusation of treason against Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) earlier this year, something incredibly serious he never apologized for.
Spencer Cox promised to veto a school choice voucher bill, if it passed the legislature this last Winter. Anyone who’s ever seen “Waiting for Superman” (by Liberal film-maker Davis Guggenheim) or read “Charter Schools and Their Enemies” (by Conservative professor Thomas Sowell) would know how high the stakes are for the state’s most disadvantaged kids, who somehow wind up in neighborhoods with the worst schools, increasing their disadvantage of ever getting out of those neighborhoods and onward to a better life for their families. Cox, like the teachers’ unions who donate a lot, put the interest of the grown-up, educated teachers ahead of the well-being of the kids in greatest need. He’s no paragon of putting your priorities straight!
Lee, again, is not my favorite person, and I think he got into this office by suspect means. That said, Trump aside, I’m not entirely disappointed with Lee’s own legislative record, and at least he has one we can hold him accountable for. Not a perfect candidate, but a known quantity, one who’s pluses and minuses I can measure.
McMullin is actually more like Trump as a candidate: what is he afraid of people finding out, if the first office he ever runs for is president? And now U.S. Senator?
Just something to think about.
Best, with Love,
J Hedberg
Eric R • Aug 27, 2022 at 3:30 am
First of all, the author is a college student, likely 20 years your junior. Even in jest, hinting that she is ‘deranged’ for quoting political science professors is inapropriate. I found none of her own opinions or any implied conclusions expressed in the article.
The phrase “the Great Orange Evil” does not appear anywhere in the article.
Lee is a lawyer- turned career politician. That doesn’t mean he is a subject matter expert in anything, other than the legal procedure, and the ability to convincingly sound like he is one. He campaigned on term limits, but by running for a third term demonstrates the limit of his conviction and reluctance to lead by example.
Lee’s own actions in support of Trump put him in the inner circle. Since so many associates of Trump have been investigated and even convicted for illegal activity, it would’t be unreasonable to question the motivation of everyone with close ties to Trump.
Term limits for members of congress would help bring in new approaches to problem solving, reduce corruption, and keep politicians focused on legislating rather than holding onto power. I’m willing to take a risk on electing someone new. McMullin may not have a voting record to evaluate, but the CIA is fairly selective, which should say something about the character and aptitude of anyone who has worked for them.
Obviously something set you off, because your response was almost as long as the entire article. I understand politics can generate strong emotions. That’s fine, but we should be able to present a fair rhetorical analysis instead of resorting to name calling.
John Hedberg • Aug 29, 2022 at 6:03 pm
Eric R,
You have a funny idea of what’s appropriate, if you think guilt by association is a judicious way to evaluate character. That’s the opposite of Liberal, and so asking voters to commit their vote purely on their worst feelings about a third person actually is a little deranged, in a playful way (as I indicated). Any adult should know better than to promote that kind of baseless assumption, without due process. For instance, you assumed I’m not a student, but I’m an undergrad. Hm. Your habits don’t say a lot for your judgment, and now you recommend your judgment to others. Way to go!
Again, I’m not a big Mike Lee fan. But even as I wondered what Trump had to hide by running for the highest office with no record we can use to hold him accountable, I wonder why McMullin hasn’t shown us his character by his decisions & actions? The CIA got us into Iraq with false reports of Weapons of Mass Destruction, so a CIA resume leaves something to be desired, standing by itself. Individuals can act corruptly, even when the agency is superb, so lack of a record we can study is questionable at this level. The fact that McMullin wants us to trust him without that record says something about putting his own interests ahead of the people he says he’s running to serve, since the public’s best interest is always served by knowing his priorities by his accomplishments, and in this case, we have no idea. Therefore, Evan is knowingly trying to get away with something he wouldn’t want if the shoe wasn’t on his foot, and it was someone else running. That’s not good character.
Unfortunately, we don’t have more options. I wish Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) would move to Utah. She actually has a record, and she appeals to voters in both parties, even Trump voters. But as long as the Democrats insist on using Trump as their best argument for being elected, rather than policy or accomplishment (hence, the “Great Orange Evil” label), it just looks like they have nothing to offer that’s real… which appears to be the case in this election, since they grasped onto McMullin like a drowning person grasps a life jacket!
By the way, knowing the law is not exactly a disqualification to becoming a “law maker”, wouldn’t you think? Your disparaging comment about his legal background makes your whole post look like something between hyperbole and hypocrisy. Who else knows better how to make laws than someone with a Constitutional law background? Didn’t Lee clerk on the Supreme Court? I think I heard that…
Oh, well. At least we know you’re an expert in what’s “appropriate”! 😂😋 Perhaps you’re a political science professor.
Best, with Love,
J Hedberg
Kathy • Aug 22, 2022 at 11:03 am
I’m all for getting rid of Lee! We need fresh new thinkers representing Utah and NOT those that support trump, with his illogical thinking after 2 1/2 years that he won the election. No more Trump anyway you want to spin it. Best of luck to you sir!!