SALT LAKE CITY — Anne Holton, wife of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, told Utah Democrats Friday that it's time for a woman to break the glass ceiling in the White House.

"And we will all own a piece of it, and won't it be fun to have Utah own a piece of it?" she told about 120 people crammed into Hillary Clinton's local campaign office. About three dozen more had to wait outside.

Holton, a lawyer and former judge, was the latest in a line of Clinton surrogates to campaign in Utah where the former secretary of state is engaged in a close battle with Republican Donald Trump and independent candidate Evan McMullin.

In addition to the rally, Holton met with local political and business leaders, as well as a group of Mormon women bloggers across the political spectrum.

Campaign headquarters

Holton said she learned from the women how important religious freedom and faith is to them. She said she shared with them how important faith is to her and her husband and Clinton coming from their different backgrounds.

"We get the central role of faith in our motivation, and that's one thing I admire so much about your community here," Holton said in an interview. "Your community also gets the importance of separating church and state and honoring folks from different faiths."

Holton said Clinton and Kaine would be strong protectors of religious freedom based on their own faith and their own understanding that "all of us are motivated by something and we want to be able to worship as we please and also be respectful of the rights of others."

But she said it's complicated sometimes, noting that her husband as governor of Virgina had to reconcile his opposition to the death penalty based on his Catholic faith with Virginians who support it. Kaine is currently a first-term Virginia senator.

Meeting with women

C. Jane Kendrick, a Provo blogger who attended Holton's meeting with women, said the discussion also turned to issues related to women and mothers and what that would mean in a Clinton presidency.

"When we take care of our women, we take care of the children population as well," she said.

Holton, who resigned as Virginia's education secretary after Kaine joined the presidential ticket, spent some time talking about what she and Clinton have done over their careers to fight for children in poverty and foster care, Kendrick said.

According to Kendrick, women in the group who were undecided voters had made up their minds after meeting with Holton. The chatter, she said, is that Clinton is the way to go.

"As women, there is no other choice," she said.

Tooele resident Amanda Graf dropped her 2-year-old off with a sitter in Sandy and brought her 2-month old to the Holton speech.

"I feel as a Democrat that we have the most family friendly policies. I'm LDS. I'm a pro-life Democrat. I feel like my fellow members of the faith are missing out. They don't understand how much more family friendly the Democrat Party is," she said.

Trump, she said, is "completely immoral" and he assaults women and brags about it. "He does not reflect my values in any way, shape or form," Graf said, noting her husband is a Republican, but neither of them are party line voters.

In her speech, Holton said Clinton is the most qualified candidate to be president, including when it comes to the military. Holton said her oldest son is a Marine deployed in Eastern Europe.

"I trust Hillary to be his commander in chief," Holton said. "Tim and I trust Hillary with our son's life."

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