Polls out of Utah this year have shown a surprisingly close race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, especially since Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama there by nearly 50 points four years ago.
Surveys show the race anywhere from tied to Trump leading by single digits. In other words, Utah is slightly more competitive than Pennsylvania is.
Let that sink in for a moment.
A lot of Utahns – specifically the high percentage of Mormon voters in the state – just don’t care much for Trump.
Would this distaste alone have been enough to tip the scales in this heavily-Republican state toward Clinton in November? Probably not.
But Evan McMullin, a conservative Mormon who just entered the presidential race as the anti-Trump candidate, could definitely put Utah in play.
On Monday, the relatively unknown McMullin submitted signatures to the state and CNN reports that Utah’s deputy of elections has certified that there were enough – just barely – to earn him a spot on the ballot there in November.
Some critics of McMullin’s bid claim that he is only helping elect Hillary Clinton, but he was having none of that on Monday.
McMullin is right that Donald Trump is already losing the election in a pretty amazing way. But that doesn’t mean his addition to the ballot in Utah won’t cost Trump a few percentage points – which may be enough to give the Democratic nominee the state’s six electoral votes.
Utah probably won’t be a difference maker in November, but it could be one of several Republican states that help Hillary Clinton run up the score.
Now that’s a candidacy we can all get behind.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
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