Pence calls on Utah Republicans to 'come home' for Trump


Save Story

Show 2 more videos

Leer en español

Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Republican vice presidential candidate and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence tried to reel in Utah GOP voters who have strayed from Donald Trump with a revivalist speech Wednesday punctuated with a call to action.

Trump has plummeted in recent Utah polls and now finds himself in a three-way race with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Mormon independent candidate Evan McMullin in the reliably Republican state. It's new territory for a GOP presidential candidate in Utah.

"The message that I've been delivering that it's time for Republicans to come home is really a message we're delivering all over the country," Pence told the Deseret News after his speech, adding that Utah is in "unique circumstances."

"Frankly, delivering that message here with some of the added attention Utah is getting is probably helping us get that message out across the country," he said.

Already headed to Colorado and Nevada, Pence said it "just makes sense" to stop in Utah.

Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans said Pence visited Utah "to close the deal" for Trump.

"Utahns are pragmatic, and they understand a vote against Trump is a vote for Hillary," Evans said. "I just don't think, at the end of the day, Utahns want to deliver Utah to Hillary."

Pence touched on a number of themes appealing to Utah Republicans, including religious freedom, a strong military, Second Amendment rights and the sanctity of life in his 45-minute speech to a raucous crowd at the Infinity Event Center.

He attacked Clinton's record as secretary of state, saying the country would be weaker at home and abroad with her in the White House, prompting the several hundred Trump supporters to chant, "Lock her up."

"Utah will play an important role in this election, make no mistake about it," Pence said in the interview.

Trump, he said, is ready to lead the nation.

"You go out and make sure Utah is ready," Pence said, urging the crowd to spread the word to their friends and neighbors. "If you've got one of those red (Trump) hats on, don't take it off for another 12 ½ days. Then you can wear it for four years."

Pence said he wanted Utahns to hear from him that there are only two candidates who have a chance to be elected president. He said this is no time to make a statement by voting for a third-party candidate.

"I truly believe that a vote for anyone other than Donald Trump is ultimately a vote to make Hillary Clinton the 45th president of the United States," he said.

Many Utahns abandoned the billionaire businessman after vulgar comments he made about women surfaced on video. Some turned to McMullin as the conservative alternative, whose rise has led to a flurry of activity in the state from both the Trump and Clinton campaigns.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile will be in Salt Lake City on Thursday to stump for Clinton and local candidates.

"I hope that the people in Utah will realize that we need to save our country. Evan McMullin is a good man, but he does not have the skill set that you need to fight the corruption and the dirty cesspool that we have in Washington," said Gabe Robertson, a recent South Carolina transplant said at the Pence rally.

Gov. Gary Herbert was one of the first Republican leaders in the country to disavow Trump. Herbert, who has said he counts Pence as a friend, was not scheduled to meet with him during his visit but could possibly talk to him on the phone, said Herbert's campaign manager, Marty Carpenter.

Hundreds of blue “Herbert is Trump” campaign signs popped up throughout Salt Lake City on Wednesday morning, though the Utah Democratic Party and the governor’s Democratic opponent, Mike Weinholtz, both said they had nothing to do with them. No disclosures were present on the signs.

"Clearly the political silly season has begun,” Carpenter said. “The governor’s been very clear that he has no intention of voting for Donald Trump, nor does he have intentions to vote for Hillary Clinton. But I think Utah voters will see this for what it is, which is, at its worst, a dirty political trick generally rejected by Utah voters, or, at best, just a ridiculous stunt.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, pulled his endorsement of Trump earlier this month, saying he couldn't in good conscience back him for president. But late Wednesday he posted on Twitter that he will vote for him.

"I will not defend or endorse @realDonaldTrump, but I am voting for him. HRC is that bad. HRC is bad for the USA," Chaffetz tweeted.

I will not defend or endorse @realDonaldTrump, but I am voting for him. HRC is that bad. HRC is bad for the USA. — Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) October 27, 2016

Recent polls show McMullin, a BYU graduate and former CIA operations officer, ahead or tied with Trump, with both of them leading Clinton in Utah. Republicans fear McMullin pulling votes from Trump would allow a Democrat to win the state for the first time in 52 years.

Still, election forecaster Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight gives Trump a 71 percent chance of taking Utah's six electoral votes based on aggregating 43 Utah polls dating back to last December.

Despite Trump slumping badly in the latest polls in the state, Easton Brady, the Trump campaign state director, said the campaign is "healthy" in Utah.

"We are ready as grass roots and as Americans and as patriots. We're going to get out there and get out the vote, and we're going to beat Hillary Clinton and Evan McMullin," Brady said.

Pushing back against Pence’s push to garner Utah votes, some longtime Republican Utahns joined Utah Democratic Party Chairman Peter Corroon at the party’s headquarters to explain why they're voting for Clinton, not Trump or his running mate.

“Mike Pence is not the antidote to a diseased ticket,” said Emily Ellsworth, who said she’s voted for Republican elected officials all her life and has worked for the campaigns of Chaffetz, Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Chris Stewart.

Ellsworth joked she’s a “nasty Republican woman” who started the Facebook page Republican Women for Hillary Utah, which she said has a comment section that resembles a mean tweets segment of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

"I am not the only Republican woman who has watched this election in horror as people and candidates we’ve supported have dismissed and explained away Donald Trump’s words,” Ellsworth said.

Utah GOP Party Vice Chairman Phil Wright said voters should look at Trump's conservative agenda.

"I believe we need to stop focusing on the imperfections of our candidates because we're all imperfect and focus on who they are, what they've done and what they can do for our country," Wright said.

Several Utah GOP leaders and other Trump supporters, including Herbert's son Nathan Herbert, gathered at the state Capitol on Wednesday morning to urge Utahns to vote for their party's nominee — not McMullin — to keep Clinton out of the White House.

Nathan Herbert, who described himself as a "scrappy" Trump volunteer, said he doesn't speak for his father.

"For me, I'm looking at the issues of policy, principle, platform and looking at the large picture — religious freedom, sanctity of life, Second Amendment, Supreme Court — those are my issues," he said.

Nathan Herbert has stayed out of the public eye since 2012, when the Utah Court of Appeals upheld a stalking injunction filed against him by an Orem woman.

Also Wednesday, a bomb threat was called into the Utah Republican Party headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City. A police search of the building did not find an explosive device.

Evans said the threat "seems to be" connected to the Pence visit.

Party workers had just moved back in Monday after working outside the office since Evans received a death threat last week. The threat came on the heels of a CNN interview in which Evans insisted inquiries be made into whether former President Bill Clinton fathered an illegitimate son with a prostitute.

At the Utah Democratic Party news conference, Corroon urged voters to understand that "a vote for Pence is a vote for Trump."

“Donald Trump has made it clear he does not take advice from anybody,” Corroon said. "He says he knows better than generals about national security, and if he’s not going to listen to the generals, he’s certainly not going to listen to his No. 2.”

Contributing: Katie McKellar

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahU.S.Politics
Dennis Romboy

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast