The Utah Democrats voted on Saturday to support Evan McMullin for Senate over Democrat Kael Weston, in order to create enough steam to oust Republican Sen. Mike Lee from office in November.
Utah Democrats are hoping to have more influence in the general election, since they have not won a Senate race in the conservative state since 1970.
At the Utah Democratic Convention, McMullin received 782 votes to Weston's 594 votes, and the motion to opt for McMullin's independent candidacy versus the candidacy by Weston passed with 57% of the vote.
McMullin received 22% of the vote against former President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Utah, and he applauded the decision.
McMullin said after the vote that Democrats are putting country over party.
The majority of the delegates at the Republican convention supported Lee on Saturday. He will face two other people in a GOP primary in June.
Lee has not helped improve the governing climate in Washington, DC, according to the two men who called for fresh leadership.
Utahns are tired of divisiveness, ineffectiveness, and the extreme rhetoric Lee is so often known to deploy.
McMullin attacked Lee for being involved in the debate over the 2020 presidential election, which Trump continues to say was fraudulent despite no evidence of widespread malfeasance.
McMullin told reporters after the vote that he knew that Sen. Mike Lee was involved in the effort to overturn our democracy.
Lee denied last week that he encouraged state legislators to submit alternate pro-Trump electors before January 6, 2021, when the certification of the Electoral College results was set to take place at the US Capitol.
McMullin said on Saturday that Utahns have to take a stand.
We must all be united to defend it, and we cannot compromise on that.
Weston's supporters tried to stop the state Democrats from backing McMullin, but they were not able to stop the other side.
Weston praised delegates for the important debate, which he claimed would not have happened if the Democrats had made the case.
It was always going to be an important conversation to have, even though you want to be the candidate that walks out with a unanimous degree of support. I accept what the delegates have decided to do, and it was loud and unpredictable.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and former Rep. Ben McAdams helped push their fellow party members to support McMullin.
The moderate United Utah Party supports McMullin.
The chairwoman of the Democratic Party said in a statement that they applaud the courage and wisdom of the party in setting aside party loyalty and putting the needs of Utah first.
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