Ask one prominent Republican involved in Summit County politics and they will say they are intrigued by a particular candidate for the party’s White House nomination.
Ask another one and they name a different presidential hopeful. Or, they say it’s too early to take a side.
The variety of opinions among ranking Summit County GOP figures seems indicative of the wrangling on the national level on the eve of the first Republican debate of the 2016 presidential election cycle, scheduled on Thursday. It is a different scenario than the past two Republican presidential primary seasons. Mitt Romney, who has longtime ties to Park City, was the favorite locally in the 2012 and 2008 election cycles.
Ranking local Republicans point to a variety of factors and political ideals as they weigh which GOP candidate they will support during the primary season.
Tal Adair, the chairman of the Summit County Republican Party, said he has not decided which candidate he will support. He said it will likely be well into the fall before he can project who the top candidates are.
“It’s one of these seasons, political seasons, that it’s hard to really measure,” Adair said.
He said Utah has enjoyed economic successes and he wants to hear how the candidates will treat the state. He spoke about economic growth in Utah and the state’s strong financial situation.
“Why isn’t the federal government doing the same thing,” he said.
Adair spoke about Donald Trump’s campaign, saying he has successfully run a business and that he is not worried about what he says on the campaign trail. Trump “does things right, economically,” Adair said.
“For some reason, it’s resonating with what the common person, everyday person, is going through,” he also said about Trump’s campaign.
Adair also said Jeb Bush, one of the other Republican White House hopefuls, was successful as the governor of Florida.
Summit County Councilor David Ure, the lone Republican on the County Council, said he supports Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker, in his campaign for the Republican nomination. He is drawn to Walker’s conservatism.
“He just doesn’t say this is the way it’s going to be and sticks to it. He resolves problems. He was elected in a state that’s Democrat,” Ure said.
Ure said he is worried Trump will continue his run for the White House as a third-party candidate if he is not the GOP nominee, and he does not anticipate Trump will win the Republican nod. That could hurt the Republican nominee’s chances, he said. Ure compared that scenario to the 1992 presidential campaign in which Ross Perot pulled votes away from the incumbent Republican president, George H.W. Bush, as Democrat Bill Clinton won the White House.
Trump has not had “checks and balances in his life as to the three branches of government,” Ure said. He questioned whether Trump could cope with Congress and the Supreme Court.
“If you put aside whatever of the flamboyant remarks are that Donald Trump makes, you will still have a person of Scott Walker in second place that has that wise, even, responsible reaction to whatever the questions are that are asked,” Ure said. “I don’t believe anybody is going to, I don’t know if it’s proper English, out-flamboyant Donald Trump. But let Donald do his things, and I think he’ll be self-destructive.”
Kraig Powell, the Republican legislator from Heber whose state House of Representatives district includes the Park City area, said he favors Ohio Gov. John Kasich. He praised Kasich’s record on budgetary matters while he was a congressman and said his time as governor gives him experience at the state-government level. Kasich is “pragmatic,” Powell said.
Powell said he is disappointed with the large political donors and said he supports anybody “who manages to avoid the extreme position.” He wants to hear the Republican candidates talk about how they will change the political climate in Washington and work with members of the other party.
Another person heavily involved in Summit County politics, Summit County Democratic Party chairman Glenn Wright, will watch the Republican debate on Thursday. He wants the candidates to address issues like income inequality, climate change and the talks about a nuclear deal with Iran.
He sees there being four Republicans with staying power in the campaign: Trump, Bush, Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. If Trump wins the nomination, Wright said, it would “bode very well” for Democrats. Trump is “inherently a racist,” Wright said, pointing to his questioning of President Obama’s birthplace and his characterization of some Mexicans as criminals.
“The best thing that could happen is Donald Trump wipes the floor with all the other candidates,” Wright said.