Mark Hamill stumps for McMullin as Utah Senate race gets more attention
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The nation’s attention is turning to Utah as Sen. Mike Lee finds himself in a closer-than-expected bid for reelection.
Lee, who’s running for a third term, faces independent candidate Evan McMullin, a former CIA officer who also made a brief run for president in 2016.
McMullin appeared alongside Star Wars actor Mark Hamill Thursday evening in a virtual event for campaign volunteers. Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker, criticized election deniers and the events that led to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“Mike Lee belongs to the party of extremists, and we have to find common ground,” Hamill said, speaking to McMullin. “That’s why you're our greatest hope.”
Recent polls put Lee and McMullin within a few points of each other. A new poll from Hill Research, conducted on behalf of the pro-McMullin Put Utah First PAC, puts McMullin ahead of Lee, 46 to 42 percent, but within the margin of error.
Amid the tightening race, Lee made a pitch on Fox News this week to his fellow senator.
“As soon as Mitt Romney is ready to, I will eagerly accept his endorsement,” Lee said, making a direct plea to Utah’s junior senator and the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. “Please get on board, help me win re-election.”
Romney has said he won’t make an endorsement in the Senate race because both candidates “are good friends.”
Lee bristled at that description on Fox News and called McMullin “a Democrat running in disguise.” Utah Democrats voted in April not to put forward their own nominee and instead back McMullin in the race against Lee.
Kirk Jowers, former director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, said Lee’s interview on Fox News “clearly showed that he’s feeling the pressure.”
Jowers has endorsed Lee, but he's also a longtime Romney adviser. In an interview with KUTV 2News Thursday afternoon, he said the race is close – and getting closer.
“It is capturing the nation’s attention,” Jowers said. “I just did an interview with the Washington Post moments before we started to speak.”
Both candidates are furiously raising money, trying to sway voters in these final weeks. On Salt Lake City’s Main Street Thursday evening, Jake Starkey said he'll vote for Lee and thinks he’ll be reelected, but he added a caveat about the candidates.
“I don’t think there’s much that you can say is really different between the two of them,” Starkey said. “Just one of them has an ‘R’ after his name and one of them has an ‘I.’”
KUTV 2News asked for interviews with both Lee and McMullin Thursday afternoon, but their campaigns said they were unavailable. A Lee campaign spokesman did not immediately comment on Hamill's remarks about the senator.
