SALT LAKE CITY — Provo Mayor John Curtis pulled down congressional campaign ads on Facebook that called on his supporters to sign petitions to "build the wall" along the Mexico border and stop sanctuary cities, then posted an explanation.
Curtis, the Republican running for the 3rd District seat vacated by former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, said in a Facebook post Sunday that one of the ads "has rightly caught many people off guard" and "our team underestimated how contentious 'The Wall' was."
He went on to "better explain" his position on immigration, including that the nation's southern border needs to be secure. "If the best idea to protect our country is a wall, then I will wholeheartedly support it," Curtis wrote.
Sanctuary cities, he said in the post, "hurt our efforts at achieving meaningful immigration reform" and are an extreme solution to illegal immigration. Curtis said Provo was considered a sanctuary city when he was elected.
His campaign spokesman, Danny Laub, said the post speaks for itself and labeled the ad "an error by a vendor that was not approved by the mayor." He said the campaign's relationship with the unnamed vendor "is on pause."
Other candidates in the November special election were critical of the ads, seen as backing GOP President Donald Trump's efforts to build a massive border wall and pressure cities to comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
"Now Curtis is saying these ads were sent in error? No way. He is neither honest nor consistent in his message, but it's clear he's Trumpian," Democrat Kathie Allen posted Tuesday on Twitter.
The new United Utah Party's candidate, Jim Bennett, sent out a news release Monday calling Curtis' Facebook post "confusing" and said he "proudly disagreed" with the ad about building a border wall.
"On the campaign trail, John has tried to distance himself from President Trump, but with this ad, he's embracing one of the president's most extreme proposals," Bennett said.
Curtis, who years ago ran for office as a Democrat and led the Utah County Democratic Party, has said he did not vote for Trump in last year's presidential election.
The winner of the special election will fill the remaining year of Chaffetz's term in the 3rd District, which includes portions of Utah and Salt Lake counties, as well as Carbon, Emery, Grand, San Juan and Wasatch counties.
Chaffetz resigned from office on June 30 and is now a Fox News contributor.