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SALT LAKE CITY — President-elect Donald Trump's "thank you" tour apparently has ended without a stop in Utah.
The tour, announced in late November, was initially billed as a way for the Republican leader to thank voters in each of the 30 states he won in November, including Utah.
But Trump announced Saturday at a stop in Mobile, Alabama, that it would be "the last time I'm speaking at a rally for maybe a while," even though he's been to just eight states since the tour was announced in late November.
No stop had been scheduled in Utah, but state GOP Chairman James Evans said last month the tour was coming to the state, although he could not confirm then whether Trump himself would make an appearance.
Evans said Monday he had not been told the tour had ended.
Easton Brady, Trump's deputy campaign director in Utah, said the president-elect is too busy setting up his new administration and planning his inauguration in January to continue holding victory rallies.
"To go to all 30 states was unlikely, so they had to finish it," Brady said. "It's not a big deal."
Utahns shouldn't feel slighted, he said, because Trump left other states off the tour, too.
"He did it to a lot of states," Brady said. "I was looking forward to it. Everyone was looking forward to it. It's a bummer, but we should be excited for the future — his presidency."
Still, Brady said he believes Trump will make an appearance in Utah eventually.
Ron Fox, one of the founders of Utahns for Trump, also said he still expects to see the next president in Utah, but it's going to take awhile because of the time involved in putting together a new administration.
"He made a number of trips," Fox said, toward fulfilling his promise of hitting all 30 states. "Especially to the real key states that put him over the top. And I understand that. But he'll make it to Utah."
Trump held a campaign rally in Utah just before the state's GOP caucus vote in March, where he came in a distant third behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
But Trump and later Kasich refused to participate in a Republican presidential debate set for Salt Lake City in March, and the much-anticipated event ended up being canceled.
Prior to the general election, Trump sent now Vice President-elect Mike Pence to Utah to urge the state's Republicans to "come home" and vote for their party's nominee. The GOP ticket won the state with 45.5 percent of the vote.
Tim Chambless, a University of Utah political science professor affiliated with the Hinckley Institute of Politics, said there is justification for Utahns to feel slighted by Trump.
"Trump's behavior as president-elect has been consistent with his behavior before the election," Chambless said, citing Trump's decision not to debate in Salt Lake City. "Once again, Utah is the loser."
But Jason Perry, head of the Hinckley Institute, said Utahns shouldn't make too much of not being included in the tour.
"We never had a date, we never had a venue or a location, so some of the writing was on the wall about that," Perry said, calling the tour "a grand gesture for sure but in terms of the practical ability to carry that out, very difficult. There are more important things for him to attend to."
