There’s one thing the three GOP hopefuls for the 1st District U.S. House seat seem to agree on — they’ve been on the receiving end of threats and strong rhetoric.

Muriel Xochimitl, spokesperson for Tina Cannon, says Cannon’s campaign has reached out to law enforcement officials in Davis and Morgan counties, things have gotten so bad. Cannon, incumbent Blake Moore and Andrew Badger are the three GOP hopefuls, with primary balloting culminating next Tuesday.

“As with many Utah campaigns, Tina has received some threats,” Xochimitl said.

She didn’t delve into details of the threats, saying Cannon has kept her focus on her message as a candidate — that federal tax code needs to be simplified, that inflation and shoring up the economy need to be focuses. Likewise, the Cannon campaign hasn’t filed any formal complaints.

Whatever the case, the unspecified threats have prompted Cannon to guard details of her daily schedule more closely from the public out of “an abundance of caution,” Xochimitl said.

Moore, seeking a second term, sounded a message of solidarity with Cannon in a retweet Wednesday of a Salt Lake Tribune tweet containing a link to a Tribune article focused on the threats and harassment directed against Cannon.

“Violence, threats and childish name-calling against political challengers are shameful. Now more than ever we need more respect, honesty and civility in our politics. We should call each other to our highest and best, not our lowest and least,” Moore tweeted.

He went further in a message to the Standard-Examiner, noting threats he has received as a lawmaker, also pointing a finger at Badger.

“Threats like these have no business in Utah politics where we are committed to substantive and productive political dialogue,” Moore said. “Andrew Badger’s attempts to intimidate his opponents with divisive rhetoric do not reflect Utah’s values, and my team and I have chosen since Day 1 to run clean, positive campaigns focused on the issues that matter most to Utahns.”

Violence, threats, and childish name calling against political challengers are shameful. Now more than ever we need more respect, honesty, and civility in our politics. We should call each other to our highest and best, not our lowest and least. #utpol https://t.co/iW1wrElVzl

— Blake D. Moore (@ElectBlakeMoore) June 22, 2022

Moore’s campaign singled out the hostile tone of a June 11 tweet from Badger in which he laments the apparent theft of some of his campaign yard signs.

“To the fools taking down our yard signs (and @SenMikeLee signs): we will put up 3 for every one you take down,” wrote Badger, who previously worked as a civilian intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency and was stationed for a time in Afghanistan. “Also we have hunters cameras up and we will catch you sooner than later. My job in Afghanistan was to track terrorist networks. You are nothing.”

To the fools taking down our yard signs (and @SenMikeLee signs): we will put up 3 for every one you take down.

Also we have hunters cameras up and we will catch you sooner than later.

My job in Afghanistan was to track terrorist networks. You are nothing.

— Andrew Badger for Congress (UT-01) (@BadgerforUtah) June 12, 2022

A campaign staffer said Moore has refrained from sharp attacks on his opponents, contrasting that with the attacks she says Badger typically levies against Moore. “Every time (Badger) speaks he calls Blake a RINO. That’s his shtick,” said the staffer, speaking on background.

The campaign provided a pair of pictures, one showing a Moore campaign sign with “RINO” spray-painted on it, the other showing a Badger backer at a campaign event holding a sign reading “No Moore RINOs.” RINO stands for “Republican in name only” and is a derisive term typically directed by Republicans against other GOPers they oppose, who they view as not sufficiently conservative.

By contrast, Moore’s campaign staffer said she’s been told by other staffers that the 2020 campaign, Moore’s first, was an “extremely positive race.”

Badger, for his part, says he’s been subjected to “harassing and threatening messages on a near daily basis.” It comes, he said, with taking a “strong position” against what he says is the presence of critical race theory in school classrooms and in favor of “election integrity.”

Badger’s tweet about political signs, for one, generated derisive and hostile comments against Badger from some who read it, though neither Moore nor Cannon tweeted any sort of reply. The messages didn’t seem threatening, though.

Badger went on, denouncing “aggressive or violent threats” against candidates for office, but rebuffed Moore’s criticism.

“Blake Moore’s allegations about my ‘divisive rhetoric’ are patently false. If he felt ‘intimidated’ at the debate, sponsored by the Utah Debate Commission, that’s only because he was not confident in his message,” Badger said, alluding to the June 2 debate among the three GOP hopefuls, when Badger and Moore sparred over some of Moore’s votes as a congressman.

Badger said he thinks Moore is trying to deflect from what he says is the momentum of the Badger campaign, underscored by internal poll numbers he released Thursday. The poll, commissioned by the Badger campaign and carried out by GCFI Research, show Moore with 40% support to 33% for Badger, 14% for Cannon and 13% undecided. The margin of error is 5%-7%, which theoretically means the race could be tighter.

A recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey, by contrast, shows Moore with 52% support, compared to 6% for Badger and 5% for Cannon, the Deseret News reported on Tuesday. Another 37% are undecided.

The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face Democrat Rick Jones in the November general election.

Newsletter