The University of Utah has requested $6.5 million in state funding to host the final of three presidential debates on Oct. 9 at Kingsbury Hall, which was also the site of the 2020 vice presidential debate.
The vice presidential debate, conducted during the pandemic, was perhaps one of the more memorable in modern history — not for the thoughtful exchanges between GOP Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Sen. Kamala Harris, but for a house fly that landed on Pence’s snow-white hair for approximately two minutes during the broadcast.
The New York Times’ Vanessa Friedman described it as “the accessory that stole the evening.”
During the university’s funding request to the Utah Legislature’s Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee Thursday, Senate Majority Whip Ann Millner, R-Ogden, cracked, “Does a little bit of this money go for insect control?”
Jason Perry, the U.’s vice president of government relations, smiled and replied, “That’s the insider question, isn’t it? We will be fumigating the Kingsbury Hall. There will be no fly incidents that we can control this time.”
Millner added, “A no fly zone.”
“Thank you for that, senator. I’m going to use that,” Perry laughed.
Joking aside, Millner congratulated the university for its selection as a presidential debate site, calling it “a pretty stunning accomplishment, so thank you for all your work there.”
Perry said there are “considerable costs” associated with hosting a debate.
“They’re almost all centered around IT, law enforcement and infrastructure for all the reasons you might imagine,” he said.
“The whole state will be involved. All the universities will be involved. Our students will be involved. This is the state of Utah on the national stage yet again, which is where we seem to shine.”
Rep. Karen Peterson, R-Clinton, asked how much the Utah Legislature appropriated for the 2020 vice presidential debate.
“I don’t recall it being this much,” said Peterson, House chairwoman of the appropriations subcommittee.
The Legislature appropriated $1.5 million, Perry said. “It was, as you may recall, the middle of COVID and half a million was brought back” and there was also fundraising from private sources, he said.
Thus far, former President Donald Trump has not participated in any GOP primary debates and neither of the leading candidates, Trump and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, have committed to any debates, leading to speculation over whether the debates will occur.
Rep. Brett Garner, D-West Valley City, congratulated Perry and the university for its selection for one of the presidential debates.
“I think it’s a good thing but I do have to ask, it’s not unlikely that this debate won’t happen. What is the contingency planning?” Garner said.
“These things are always possible. We were worried that that might be the case during COVID, that it would not happen, but we were able to pull it off then,” Perry said.
The university is working to ensure it protects the state’s and university’s resources as it prepares for the debate, he said.
“We’re building into our contracts a way to get money back if it does not occur. We’ve been working closely with the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is the group that manages these events. In spite of the rhetoric, we’re still planning as if this is happening and no one has said, ‘No, they absolutely will not be there.’ So we will be monitoring that very closely and protecting us every way we can,” Perry said.