donald trump prevailed in utah on tuesday, overcoming ambivalence about the gop nominee from many mormons, who make up the majority of the state<u+2019>s population. with 36% of the votes tallied, mr. trump won 51% of the state<u+2014>defeating hillary clinton, and evan mcmullin an independent candidate who ran on a conservatism platform. the associated press called the race for mr. trump. mr. mcmullin came in second, with 23.5% of the vote. mrs. clinton garnered 20%. mr. mcmullin, a mormon and former house republican staffer, made utah an unlikely swing state , with polls in late october showing him running close with<u+2014>or even ahead of<u+2014>mr. trump. republican elected officials in utah, including gov. gary herbert and rep. jason chaffetz, also distanced themselves from mr. trump in october, though mr. chaffetz later backtracked and said he would vote for the gop nominee. many utah voters ultimately did the same, despite their reservations about his character. rebecca farnsworth, a 52-year-old resident of sandy, utah and a mormon, said mr. trump was <u+201c>not a very upstanding guy. he<u+2019>s not honest. he<u+2019>s kind of a playboy.<u+201d> still, she voted for him. <u+201c>i thought he<u+2019>d appoint supreme court justices<u+2014>that was my only reason,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>i knew a vote for a third party was basically a vote for hillary clinton, so i tossed that idea out the window. i wanted to be smart.<u+201d> speaking to supporters on election night, mr. mcmullin called on his voters to help build <u+201c>a new conservative movement.<u+201d> if mr. trump wins the election, mr. mcmullin said in his concession speech, <u+201c>the republican party can no longer be considered the home for conservatives.<u+201d> conservatism, he said, was about protecting <u+201c>fundamental rights,<u+201d> adding, <u+201c>tonight there are millions of americans, i<u+2019>m sad to say, who are in fear that perhaps their liberties will be challenged and threatened under a trump administration that has made a campaign of targeting people based on their race, their religion and gender.<u+201d> gov. gary herbert, who coasted to re-election on tuesday, said in a phone interview tuesday night that he wasn't surprised mr. trump had carried the state, though he would likely win a far lower portion of the vote than mitt romney, the republican nominee in 2012, who carried more than 70% of the utah vote. <u+201c>i think it<u+2019>s because of his policies, in spite of the personal foibles and lack of some decency and character that really is a turnoff for the people of utah,<u+201d> gov. herbert said. <u+201c>the policy side of what you will do in the oval office lines up a lot better with utah. that carried the day.<u+201d> write to ian lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com
donald trump wins utah - wsj
ian lovett