SALT LAKE CITY — Utah voters heard final pitches Monday in the presidential race from surrogates for Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton and from independent candidate Evan McMullin himself.
The last-minute campaigning in the state on the eve of Election Day is something new, a result of Utah no longer being seen as reliably Republican despite having not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964.
Trump is leading in a RealClearPolitics average of recent polls of Utah voters with 37.4 percent, followed by Clinton with 27 percent and McMullin at 25 percent, but pollsters have also measured enough uncertainty in the race to shift those standings.
"This is a very competitive race. It is extraordinarily unusual that Utah should be a potential swing state in this election, but that is very much the case. The polls are very tight," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in Utah to support Clinton.
Clinton's campaign sent Schiff and Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran for president in 2004 as a Democrat, to Utah to talk about the threat they believe Trump poses to national security as the commander in chief.
"This is really about the security of the United States of America. It's about whether we can grow as a nation, keep our borders safe and strong, work with allies abroad, maintain the structure of the world," said Clark, a four-star general.
"All that is threatened by Mr. Trump's comments, by his lack of knowledge, by his inattention and possibly by his loyalty to some other purpose than advancing the interests of the United States," he said. "Utahns should be very concerned."
Trump's supporters in Utah spent the final day before the election contacting voters directly by phone, Utah GOP Chairman James Evans said, and have told the Trump campaign that surrogates aren't needed here.
"It's just hard to believe that Utah will vote for Hillary Clinton, so we encouraged the Trump campaign to focus on other states. We can handle here," Evans said. "It's all about turning the vote out."
He said the message to voters is that a unified Republican government led by Trump "will dedicate itself to reclaiming our founding principles and solving the country's problems. I think that's what America wants at this time."
McMullin, whose only path to the White House requires him to win Utah's six electoral votes and keep Trump and Clinton from reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to declare victory, campaigned Monday in Utah County.
The former CIA operative, a Mormon with Utah ties, and his running mate, Mindy Finn, met with voters at a diner in Lehi during lunchtime and held an election eve rally at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo in the evening.
Finn, a conservative strategist, said the campaign's message to voters in Utah is they "have a historic opportunity to stand on principle" and tell the world, "Don't count America out. We're not going to allow our democracy to corrode."
Contributing: Ladd Egan
Email: lisa@deseretnews.com
Twitter: DNewsPolitics