Utah Democrats voted Saturday to back an independent candidate, Evan McMullin, and leave one of their own off the ballot in a quest to defeat Republican Sen. Mike Lee. The unusual move at the party’s state convention passed 782 to 594, much to the dismay of Democrat Kael Weston, who wanted the nomination and whose supporters booed those who argued McMullin, a former Republican, has a better chance of ousting Lee. “I want to represent you. I’m committed to that. I will maintain my independence,” McMullin said, according to the Deseret News. “We will show the rest of the country how we beat people like Mike Lee who try to overturn our democracy in the shadows.”
