The latest GOP national figure showed up in Utah Thursday night to support Saratoga Springs Mayor and congressional candidate Mia Love. Arizona Senator and former Presidential hopeful John McCain rallied with Love in West Valley City.
Close to three hundred people gathered in the amphitheater outside the Utah Cultural Celebration Center to see what McCain had to say about the GOP candidate in the state’s fourth congressional district. The Senator broke the ice with a few jokes about his failed presidential bid in 2008 and then offered his support to Love.
“I am convinced that one of the leaders of the next generation of our Republican party and our nation is before you tonight,” said Senator McCain.
In the midst of supporters, Love continued to tout her fiscally conservative message and her plans to reduce federal spending.
“Hope and change that the President talks about lies with us, not with federal government. And we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that our children have the future that they deserve, which is one that is more prosperous than one that we’ve earned,” said Mia Love.
During the question and answer segment of the event, several people in the audience asked questions about the GOP’s efforts to reform Medicare, especially the plan presented in congress by vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, to balance the federal budget by largely privatizing the entitlement program.
“I understand the budget but I’m really concerned about the voucher program,” said a woman in the audience.
McCain said the Ryan plan is helping start a discussion about entitlement reforms.
“I’m not saying that I support Ryan’s plan, every comma and period. But I do say that this is something that we can work on, which then can bring Medicare under control so that these young people in this audience will have Medicare when they retire, which they are paying into right now,” said McCain.
McCain’s stop in Utah comes on the heels of a visit by U-S House Speaker John Boehner at a Love fundraiser earlier this week. All the attention from Washington’s GOP leadership is a signal that Republicans are pushing hard to defeat Democratic incumbent Jim Matheson in November and they’re confident Mia Love is the person who can achieve that goal.