Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is not faring as well as observers might expect in his ongoing race for re-election.
Lee’s main opponent is Evan McMullin, who is a conservative but isn’t running in affiliation with the Republican Party. The Utah Democratic Party endorsed McMullin instead of getting behind a contender from the party’s own ranks. In a new Impact Research poll conducted on behalf of the McMullin campaign, the independent challenger finished one percent ahead of Lee in one breakdown of the numbers. Among likely voters, Lee got 46 percent, but McMullin received 47 percent of the support, and seven percent of respondents indicated they were undecided. The poll is the first major survey in the Utah Senate race showing McMullin with a lead, although a July poll conducted by the highly regarded pollster Dan Jones & Associates found Lee ahead by just five percent — hardly an insurmountable margin.
Earlier polling found Lee ahead by larger margins, although even Lee’s own campaign surveys recorded a drop in the Senator’s lead by five percentage points from June to July. Lee was previously involved in attempts to undo Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. He was one of those texting with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the aftermath of the election, and he sounded desperate. In one of his messages, Lee raised a possibility of state legislators simply signaling how they’d vote on key matters related to the 2020 election evidently regarding the prospect of alternate slates of electors in disputed states. “We need something from state legislatures to make this legitimate and to have any hope of winning. Even if they can’t convene, it might be enough if a majority of them are willing to sign a statement indicating how they would vote,” the Senator said. Lee said he was in repeated and consistent contact with state legislators about the efforts.
Lee was adamant about the potential for alternate slates of electors, criticizing fellow Republicans for pushing forward with attempts to upend Biden’s electoral votes in the absence of legislatures getting behind alternate votes for Trump. “I know only that this will end badly for the president unless we have the Constitution on our side,” Lee said on January 3, 2021. “And unless these states submit new slates of Trump electors pursuant to state law, we do not.” Lee also originally pushed Meadows to involve Sidney Powell in Trump’s efforts — until the Senator grew concerned about Powell’s ability to actually support her claims.
