Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Utah in late June, marking her first appearance in the state since 2020.
Harris is expected to participate in a fundraiser for the Biden-Harris campaign on June 28. It is unclear whether she will hold a public event during her visit. Further details will be released “as the date approaches,” said Scott Howell, the former Utah State Senate minority leader and the Biden-Harris surrogate in Utah.
“We are honored and thrilled to welcome Vice President Harris back to Utah,” Howell added.
Harris’ last visit to Salt Lake City was a month before the 2020 election. She participated in a vice presidential debate at the University of Utah and toured This Is the Place Heritage Park.
“Let’s put our shoulders to the wheel,” Harris said while visiting the park. “Let’s do the work that is necessary, and continue to fight for our ideals and our values, and in this case what (the Latter-day Saint pioneers) fought for so many years ago, which was for freedom and to hold our country accountable for the values we say we hold dear.”
The fundraiser will be the Biden-Harris campaign’s third in Utah this cycle. In August, participated in a fundraiser at the Park City home of Nancy and Mark Gilbert, the former U.S. ambassador to New Zealand. Earlier in the day, Biden delivered a speech on veterans health care at the Wahlen VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
In January, first lady Jill Biden visited Hunter High School in West Valley City before attending a Park City fundraiser.
To date, the Biden campaign has raised more money in Utah than former President Donald Trump, thanks in large part to the two fundraisers. Trump has yet to visit Utah this cycle, after an event scheduled for June 27 in Park City — the day before Harris’ planned visit — was scrapped to accommodate a CNN debate on the same date. Fundraiser organizers are now hoping to bring Trump to Park City in late July or late August, a person with knowledge of the event said.
In Utah, Harris will find an electorate deeply dissatisfied with her performance. In the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted in early June, 22% of Utahns said they have a favorable view of Harris, while 70% said they view her unfavorably.
“We are thrilled that Vice-President Harris is returning to Utah,” Diane Lewis, chair of the Utah Democratic Party, said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration continues to support Utah families by making investments in our infrastructure and environment, including a recent $20.5 million water conservancy grant to Washington County. Utahns know that the Biden-Harris administration is good for our state — that’s why President Biden has raised over $250,000 more from Utah than Donald Trump.”