Biden administration officials keep coming to Utah. Why?

An earlier version of this article was published in the On the Trail 2024 newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox on Tuesday and Friday mornings here. To submit a question to next week’s Friday Mailbag, email onthetrail@deseretnews.com.

Good morning, friends. This is Gitanjali Poonia. I cover Utah’s congressional delegation for the Deseret News, and I’m filling in for Samuel Benson this week while he’s on vacation. He’ll be back soon, but in the meantime, I’m excited to share some of the things I’ve heard in my reporting around the state.

3 things to know

• What would happen if a third-party candidate won enough electoral college votes in the presidential election that neither Donald Trump or Joe Biden got 270 votes? That’s the question Deseret Magazine writer Ethan Bauer asks in his latest article. Read more here.

• Three members of Utah’s congressional delegation held a hearing in southern Utah this week where they and local officials expressed frustration with the Biden administration over its management of federal land in Utah. One county commissioner said he felt “insulted” by his treatment by the feds. Read more here.

• Trump’s attorneys argued before the Supreme Court on Thursday that a president’s official actions should be immune from criminal prosecution. The justices asked the attorneys some pointed questions, perhaps showing which way they are leaning in the case. Read more here.

The Big Idea

The Biden administration’s interest in Utah

In the last few months, several high-level Biden officials — as well as first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband to Vice President Kamala Harris — have come to the Beehive State to tout the Biden administration’s spending on infrastructure projects. Visitors have included Robin Carnahan, administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration and, just Thursday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. She traveled to Utah to unveil $331 million in new funding, stemming from Biden’s “Invest in America” initiative, for what the administration says are safer and cleaner transmission lines in Western states like Nevada and Idaho.

Earlier this month, a group of Utah Democratic leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., for a White House briefing to learn more about the infrastructure projects in their state. “They don’t ever let (Biden’s) schedule out. But with a wink and a nod, I thought he or vice president would be there,” said former state Sen. Scott Howell, who attended the briefing. But the country’s chief executive, along with key secretaries and advisers, were in Baltimore on April 5 as a show of support after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. “We understood that that’s where he needed to be,” Howell said.

The briefing Howell and others received lasted five to six hours and was held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. In the hearing, Biden’s senior advisers and staffers broke down the administration’s large-scale investments under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act for the delegates from Utah, which is receiving $3.5 billion funding for projects.

Are these briefings in Washington, D.C, and a laundry list of project unveilings meant to help prop up Biden during his reelection bid this year? Howell told me he wasn’t surprised the timing coincides with the 2024 race, saying it is “just the nature of politics.” But, he said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s the day before the election, (as long as) this benefits the citizenry.”

Utah Democratic Party’s Vice Chairman Oscar Mata, who also attended the briefing, said that the attendees at the briefing were from deeply red states, but that hasn’t discouraged Biden’s White House.

“I think it really goes to show that Biden and his administration want to reach out to all communities, including those that aren’t in typically reliable blue areas,” Mata said. Noting the many high-level visitors to Utah, he said that in his lengthy career in politics, this is the first time he sees “an administration not take a state for granted, or assume that it’s a lost state, and being present (through) elected officials.”

What we’re reading

Trump is already floating names to fill his cabinet, should he win in November. A leading candidate for secretary of state is Robert O’Brien, the Utah resident and former national security adviser. O’Brien and Trump are close, but Politico reports that the Achilles’ heel may be O’Brien’s support for Ukraine — a position Trump does not agree with. Inside the fight for top Trump national security roles (Alexander Ward and Daniel Lippman, Politico)

Biden is attempting to court Nikki Haley supporters in his latest “mid-six figure” digital ad buy in Pennsylvania. This move comes after a larger number of Republican primary voters in the Keystone State than expected voted for Haley even after she’d dropped out of the race. Biden campaign makes new digital ad buy in Pennsylvania to court Nikki Haley supporters (MJ Lee, CNN)

See you on the trail.

Editor’s Note: The Deseret News is committed to covering issues of substance in the 2024 presidential race from its unique perspective and editorial values. Our team of political reporters will bring you in-depth coverage of the most relevant news and information to help you make an informed decision. Find our complete coverage of the election here.