The Latter-day Saint connections to the 2024 presidential election

This article was first 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 and welcome to On the Trail 2024, the Deseret News’ campaign newsletter. I’m Samuel Benson, Deseret’s national political correspondent.

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m grateful for you, our readers — thanks for following along over the first four months of our election coverage. We have a crazy year ahead of us. Buckle up.

If you haven’t already, follow our new “On the Trail 2024” Instagram account! We’ll share exclusive content and behind-the-scenes access there.

Here’s more of the Deseret News’ 2024 election coverage:

• Cornel West thinks the U.S. is in ‘spiritual decay.’ That’s why he’s running for president

• Gov. Cox wants to see ‘anybody other than the two frontrunners’ at the 2024 presidential debate in Utah

• In Iowa speech, Trump praises foreign dictators’ strength, slams ‘weak’ Biden

The Big Idea

The White House Prophecy?

In the next few days, you’ll see some inside baseball on the front page of Deseret.com. I have a story coming about how Vivek Ramaswamy is trying to win over evangelical Christians. Ramaswamy — the 38-year-old billionaire entrepreneur — is a Hindu. Evangelicals make up over 60 percent of the expected Republican electorate in Iowa, which hosts the nation’s first caucus in less than two months.

A sneak peek: Ramaswamy’s two Iowa co-chairs — former Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman and former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz — served missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They both canvassed for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns (Chapman in 2012 and Schultz in 2008). Schultz is still a practicing Latter-day Saint; Chapman is now an evangelical Christian.

From the story:

I think you’ll find the rest of the story interesting, as well. It will go live on Deseret.com Saturday night.

There are other interesting Latter-day Saint connections to the 2024 race — including one that arose last week. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, added an ex-Romney staffer to her finance team. Spencer Zwick, a BYU graduate and longtime Romney ally, told me that Haley is “in the best position to not only get us past Donald Trump, but to beat Joe Biden in the fall.”

Zwick grew up in Salt Lake City and attended East High. He first worked for Romney during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, then followed Romney to Massachusetts to work in the governor’s office. He later worked as a fundraiser on Romney’s presidential campaigns.

Romney has called Zwick his “sixth son.” Zwick now runs Solamere Capital, a private equity firm he founded with Romney’s son, Tagg.

Earlier this year, Zwick organized the annual E2 Summit in Park City, which Haley and three other presidential candidates attended.

Unlike 2012, when Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. ran for president, there are no Latter-day Saint candidates this cycle. But there are plenty of church members involved in the political process.

The church’s official policy on politics is that it encourages members “to engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner,” while respecting that Latter-day Saints “come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan political matters.”

Are there other Latter-day Saints playing big roles behind-the-scenes this cycle that I missed? Drop me a line: onthetrail@deseretnews.com

Weekend reads

One of Joe Biden’s strongest pitches to voters is that he beat Donald Trump once, so he can do it again. But America has changed, and on some of the big issues in 2024 — like immigration — the electorate seems to be shifting to the right. This is a sharp analysis of the immigration issues that are turning even some Democrats into hawks: How the American political environment got Trumpier (Shelby Talcott, Semafor)

This one is less of a “weekend read” and more of a “weekend watch” — but it’s well worth your time. Have you ever felt that presidential candidates should spend less time on social media and more on the issues you care about? You’re not alone. But this is why they’re doing it: Why are politicians acting like influencers? (Alex Keeney and Krystal Campos, Politico)

Argentina just elected a libertarian economist as its next president. He’s a character — he campaigns with a chain saw to promote his promise to cut government programs, and he’s a fixture on reality TV and political talk shows alike. He’s drawn plenty of comparisons to Trump. But this column pushes back on that — style aside, Javier Milei’s free-market views on trickle-down economics more closely resemble Ronald Reagan. The free-market fundamentalism of Argentina’s Javier Milei (John Cassidy, The New Yorker)

Friday mailbag

Today’s question comes from reader Chris D. in East Norwich, New York:

Do you think anyone who ran this cycle could run again someday?

A great question. Let’s look at the Republicans, one by one:

Trump: No. Lose this one, and the party would be crazy to ever consider nominating him again. Plus, he’s 77 now — he’d be running as an 82-year-old in 2028, with who-knows-how-many legal problems (he’s facing down 91 criminal charges now). That said, plenty of people thought he wouldn’t run this cycle, and he’s leading the Republican field by a country mile.

Ron DeSantis: Why not? I’m sure he wants a mulligan. He entered this race with a strong conservative record as governor and national name recognition. His campaign has stuttered and stalled, failing to capitalize on the early Trump tiredness that seeped into fractions of the party earlier this year. Now, Trump is squarely back into his throne, and DeSantis has become the victim of all of Trump’s oppo research attacks. At an event in Iowa last weekend, I heard an evangelical powerbroker ask DeSantis, “Why didn’t you just wait your turn?” DeSantis got immediately defensive — “well, we’re a republic. Its not about waiting your turn.” Maybe 2028 will be more promising for him.

Haley: Yes. At 51, she’s young — especially when compared with the octogenarian front-runners. And the current momentum she’s building may not be enough to win her the nomination this year, but it could be enough to give her hope that her establishment Republicanism isn’t completely out of style.

Ramaswamy: Of course. The guy is 38. You don’t step away from multimillion-dollar businesses, with young kids at home, for a one-off try at politics. Ramaswamy will be around for some time, especially if Trump chooses him as his vice president.

Other Republicans: Tim Scott? Likely — he’s young, popular, unique. Doug Burgum? No idea. Chris Christie? No. Mike Pence? The party has abandoned him. Ryan Binkley? I forgot he was running.

Have a question for next week’s mailbag? Drop me a line at onthetrail@deseretnews.com, or reply to this email.

See you on the trail.

Samuel

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.