Utah is not often considered a swing state.
But the solidly Republican home of 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is heavily divided, almost evenly split between Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Libertarian Gary Johnson.
That’s right: An internal poll for Congresswoman Mia Love has Trump just three points ahead of the third party candidate, who is tied with Hillary Clinton. It’s the first poll to indicate that 2016 may be a three-way race – at least in key Republican strongholds nervous about the New York real estate mogul.
Utah has been rumored to be in play since last June, as rumors began to circulate that Salt Lake City was “ground zero” for Mitt Romney’s abortive RNC mutiny. One Utah state Senator even openly declared his support for Johnson after leaving the RNC in Cleveland.
“No party is entitled to my membership or my support,” Utah senator and RNC delegate Mark Madsden told a hometown crowd when he returned from Ohio. He said the GOP now supported a vision for America that he felt was “less free.”
But while even Madsden himself admits he’s not a significant endorsement for the former New Mexico governor, sources say that another, higher profile endorsement might be close behind.
Thursday afternoon, Gary Johnson and running mate Bill Weld confirmed that they’d spoken with Mitt Romney and that “he’s considering an endorsement.”
For Mitt Romney, it’s likely a matter of considering whether he’ll ultimately lose long-term clout within the Republican Party by supporting a libertarian candidate, or whether it’s worth completely ending his relationship with the party now helmed by Donald Trump.
Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer just a month ago that his biggest hurdle to endorsing Johnson/Weld was that he didn’t know Gary Johnson very well.
“If Bill Weld were at the top of the ticket, it would be very easy for me to vote for Bill Weld for president,” Romney noted. “So I’ll get to know Gary Johnson better and see if he’s someone who I could end up voting for. That’s something which I’ll evaluate over the coming weeks and months.”
We now know he’s kept his promise.
Romney is also not the only endorsement supposedly waiting in the wings for just the right time. Sources have tossed around names including Bill Kristol and Jeb Bush, though neither of those men seem to have made serious overtures to Johnson’s campaign in recent weeks.
After the DNC concludes Thursday night, the race will be on for Johnson to achieve 15% in the polls, ensuring that he will appear in the prime-time presidential debates. He currently hovers around 12%, but sources close to the campaign say they believe 15% or even 20% is possible.
