HIGHLAND, Utah — Utah Senate candidate Evan McMullin slammed an attack ad against him and his campaign as a "lie."
McMullin held a press conference Thursday to refute the claims made in the ad from Club for Growth, a political action committee that supports incumbent U.S. Sen. Mike Lee.
The ad features McMullin saying "the Republican base is racist," something he claims was taken out of context from an interview following a neo-Nazi march in Virginia in 2017.
Speaking after the march on a CNN panel, McMullin said, "Not all Republicans, of course, are racist. I was raised by Republicans who are not at all — and who welcome Americans of all backgrounds and are not at all alike. But there is an element of the Republican base that is racist, and our leaders are afraid to stand up to them, because if they do, if they do so, they'll be criticized, and they'll potentially lose votes, and so they don't do it."
During his press conference, McMullin, who is running against Lee as an independent, called out the ad, saying it edited his own words as a deception to protect his opponent.
"They're spending millions of dollars in this race, again, to deceive and divide Utahns in order to protect Mike Lee," said McMullin.
The McMullin campaign has asked television stations to stop running the ad, as well as imploring the Lee campaign to condemn the commercial and demand that it be taken off the air.
"Who will you side with, Senator?" asked McMullin. "Will you stand in the face of special interest lies or do you have the backbone to stand up for the truth?"
Sen. Lee's campaign officr said they had no comment to McMullin's claims.
FOX 13 received a request from McMullin's campaign to pull the ad. The station requires campaigns in question to provide further substantiation of claims within 24 hours.
