Five takeaways from the Lee-McMullin Senate debate in Utah

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and his rival, Independent candidate Evan McMullin, took to the debate stage on Monday evening in what has emerged as one of the more unexpectedly competitive Senate races ahead of November.

Lee is seeking a third term in office but recent polling has shown McMullin, a former CIA officer, not far behind. A recent Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll shows Lee leading McMullin 41 percent to 37 percent respectively. 

The debate, which was held at Utah Valley University, had its share of heated moments, especially one back-and-forth over Congress’s certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021. But the candidates also found common ground in their criticism of President Biden and their shared interest in tackling inflation. 

Here’s five takeaways from the Utah Senate debate.

Lee on defense over Jan. 6

During the debate, McMullin targeted Lee over his alleged support for the Trump White House’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Their fiery exchange ensued after Lee emphasized the role of the Electoral College in the last election.

“I certainly think it’s important that we protect voters’ rights and that we protect the peaceful transfer of power, Sen. Lee, but for you to talk about the importance of the Electoral College, I think is rich,” McMullin said.

“I think you know exactly how important it is. And I think you knew how important it was when you sought to urge the White House that had lost an election to find fake electors to overturn the will of the people. Sen. Lee, that was the most egregious betrayal of our nation’s Constitution in its history by a U.S. senator, I believe, and it will be your legacy. Sen. Lee is still casting doubt,” he added, to a mix of clapping and boos from the audience.

Lee refuted the Senate hopeful’s claims, saying at one point that “there is absolutely nothing to the idea that I would have ever supported, ever did support, a fake electors plot. Nothing.”

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot has focused much of its probe on the Republicans who worked to toss the results of the last election. CNN, citing messages it had reviewed that were initially obtained from the House panel, reported earlier this year that Lee and another Republican colleague were allegedly initially supportive of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results before later backing away from that encouragement.

Lee paints rival as Democrat in disguise

Throughout the debate, Lee sought to paint McMullin as a Democrat in Independent’s clothing.

“You have sought for, actively courted and obtained the endorsement of the Democratic Party. You’ve raised millions of dollars from ActBlue, the database on which [the] far-left, progressive, socialist Democratic donors can be found. And then you have in the last quarter alone spent $1.6 million feeding the Democratic industrial complex,” Lee alleged at one point during the debate.

The senator also targeted McMullin after he said that he supported citizens negotiating the price of prescription drugs. 

“What my opponent has just suggested to, as freely negotiated, is code — it’s Democratic code. Democratic code for price controls. He supports price controls as recently enacted into the Orwellian name, Inflation Reduction Act, which does nothing of the sort,” Lee claimed. 

McMullin has said he would not caucus with either Republicans or Democrats if elected to the Senate. It’s also not clear if he would vote for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as majority leader.

McMullin ties Lee to ‘broken politics’ of Washington

The former CIA officer sought to show he could unify both parties as an Independent and portrayed Lee as someone who symbolized the “broken politics” of the nation.

“You’re worried about the fact that I’m an Independent, and that I’m building a cross-partisan coalition of Republicans, Democrats and Independents and members of third parties to replace you and to stand up to your broken politics,” McMullin told Lee during the debate.

“And those are the party boxes and special interests who line your pockets. That’s what I’m doing. And I know it frightens you because if you can keep us divided, then that’s how you hold on to power,” he continued. “You’re used to that. But we’re building a cross-partisan coalition to replace you, Sen. Lee, and it must be done.”

Earlier on in the debate, McMullin said he would not be a “bootlicker” for President Biden or former President Trump, arguing that he would be prioritizing the needs of Utahns instead. That messaging is likely to appeal to voters given that unaffiliated voters are the second largest group of active voters in the state behind Republicans. 

Lee tries to position himself as independent 

The Republican incumbent also argued that he was not subject to the whims of either party, noting instances in which he broke with Trump.

“To suggest that I’m beholden to either party, that I’ve been a bootlicker for either party is folly, and it’s contradicted by the plain facts. Look, no member of the Republican Senate conference voted independently during the Trump administration than I did,” the senator said. 

“Only two senators — Susan Collins and Rand Paul — voted less with President Trump than I did. I’ve stood against my party time and time again to oppose reckless spending. I will do it again and again and again.”

Lee also separately said that he’s called out Trump “in public and in private,” including on spending bills while the former president was in office. 

Both find common ground on Biden, fiscal matters

But the two also showed a willingness to call out Biden and find common ground on issues like inflation. For example, both men noted early on in the debate that they wanted to tackle inflation — comments that come in light of recent Labor Department data that found consumer prices on the rise. 

“Well, look, I think maybe this is something that Sen. Lee and I agree on, at least in part. I also agree that the Biden administration is guilty of reckless spending,” McMullin said at one point during the debate. “They were warned by both Democratic and Republican economists … not to put in place the $1.9 trillion spending package during the pandemic that has contributed heavily to inflation in our country.”

But McMullin argued that Lee had not done enough as senator to tamp down inflation, saying later “during your time in the U.S. Senate, when you were elected, the U.S. debt was about $12 or $13 trillion, Sen. Lee. Now it’s almost triple that. It’s well over $31 trillion.”