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LAS VEGAS — The big winner in Wednesday's third and final presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton for Utah voters may have been independent candidate Evan McMullin.
"Neither candidate overcame their weak points tonight," said Sutherland Institute President Boyd Matheson. "For Utah voters, I think this will reinforce why so many are looking at and even leaning toward Mr. McMullin."
McMullin, now leading in Utah according to a new poll, is only on the ballot in 11 states and hopes to be a write-in candidate in 32 more. But his surge in Utah hasn't gone unnoticed among Trump and Clinton supporters at the debate.
"It's unfortunate, I think, that that third-party person got in there," former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said when asked about Trump's chances in Utah. "I hope that people will come to their senses and realize he can't win the presidency."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dismissed McMullin's candidacy as "kind of a Don Quixote effort." Reid, a Mormon who went to college in Utah, said voters should fear a Trump presidency.
"I would hope the people of Utah would understand the importance of electing a president," the retiring senator said. "And if they want to have a say in what goes on in the future, I think they would be well-served by voting for Hillary Clinton."
GOP pollster Frank Luntz said he doesn't see McMullin's rise as significant.
"Utah cares about morality more than other states. Utah cares about substance more than other states," Luntz said. "It's that kind of electorate you want to have. But they still don't want to vote for someone who's not even going to be an asterisk in the campaign."
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who twice ran for president, said his fellow Republicans should get behind Trump, including Gov. Gary Herbert. The Utah governor was one of the first GOP officials in the country to back away from Trump.
"I really hate that," Perry said. "I get it about everybody gets to pick and choose. But I’m for my team, and when I’m not for my team, I’m helping the other team. I’m not being critical of him. I mean, that’s just reality."
Perry said he doesn't believe polls giving McMullin the lead in Utah, comparing a victory by anyone other than Trump in Utah to saying Texas will turn Democratic.
"It's a pipe dream. You know, we'll find unicorns before Texas becomes a Democrat state," Perry said.
McMullin's Utah communications director, Kelsey Witt, said the debate showed "once again that the two major party candidates are doing more to divide than unite, and more to attack than elevate."
Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, a longtime Clinton supporter, said the former secretary of state's performance will solidify her national lead and "keep Utah in play." Wilson said she believes Utahns "are accepting this as a two-person race."
That's because for McMullin to have a shot at the White House, he would not only need to win a state but also stop either Trump or Clinton from getting the 270 electoral votes needed to declare victory.
Just what Trump would do in the event of a Clinton win was a key moment in the debate, with the billionaire businessman declining to say whether he would accept the results of the election.
Instead, Trump said he "will look at it at the time" and "will keep you in suspense." Brewer said his response was tongue in cheek, but Reid said it spoke to how "dangerous" a candidate Trump is.
Utahns for Trump's Don Peay said he doesn't "care about the theatrics" of the debate. He said McMullin's candidacy "makes us look sophomorish politically, from a national standpoint, and it makes us look like we're throwing away a vote."
Peay said Utahns need to focus on what Trump would do as president, not his tone, especially when it comes to the Supreme Court. In the debate, Trump pledged to appoint justices who would overturn the decision legalizing abortion.
Jason Perry, head of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, said Trump showed more restraint in the final debate "and gave Utah voters very few new reasons to withdraw support."
But Perry said while Trump may have calmed some of the controversies dogging his campaign, including his past comments about making sexual advances on women, that may not be enough to undo the damage in Utah.
Clinton, he said, also likely did not secure new support in Utah. However, her campaign, already active in the state, isn't giving up.
"Utah is an extremely competitive state right now," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said, but isn't on a list of battleground states she plans to visit in the coming days — Ohio, New Hampshire, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
But Donna Brazile, Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman, said she will speak next week at Westminster College.
"I'm very excited about the prospect that we're looking at trying to get some support out of the great state of Utah," she said.
