Mike Pence to make campaign stop in Salt Lake City


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SALT LAKE CITY — Republican vice presidential nominee and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence will make a campaign stop in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, campaign officials confirmed Monday.

Pence, the running mate of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, will be speaking at 3:30 p.m. at the Infinity Event Center, 26 E. 600 South, according to the Trump-Pence campaign. The event is open to the public, and tickets are available on Trump's campaign website.

Mike Deaver, an event organizer with Utahns for Trump, said other speakers also will attend the event, starting at 2 p.m. Deaver, who helped coordinate Trump's speech at the Infinity Event Center in March, couldn't confirm who those speakers would be. He said a standing-room only crowd is expected for Pence's address.

Pence also is scheduled to make stops in Reno, Nevada, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Wednesday.

Polls show Trump's campaign is struggling in Utah, a state that traditionally votes heavily Republican. A UtahPolicy.com poll last week indicated Trump had the support of 30 percent of likely Utah voters, compared with 29 percent support for independent candidate Evan McMullin and 26 percent for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee.

Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and vice president for government relations at the University of Utah, said he believes Pence is coming to the state because he is more favorable to Utah voters than his running mate.

"Mike Pence is a guy that many people in the state of Utah have liked from the very beginning," Perry said. "If he was at the top of the ticket, this could have been a very different race."

Winning Utah is important for Trump "for many reasons," according to Perry, especially because the Republican Party wants to maintain a stronghold in the state into the future. The party sees McMullin's surge in the polls as a threat, he added.

"They want to show that the Republicans are still solid here," Perry said.

Pence's visit may turn out to be effective in reaching the state's conservative voters, particularly those who are worried about future Supreme Court appointments made by a Democratic president, Perry said.

"They are looking for a reason for them to support Donald Trump," he said.

Contributing: Nicole Vowell

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