Only black GOP woman in Congress running in Trump-wary Utah

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The first black female Republican in Congress is facing a tough challenge from a well-known Democratic mayor in a largely suburban Utah district where many say they are wary of President Donald Trump.

U.S. Rep. Mia Love has sought to create some distance from the president while challenger Ben McAdams criticizes her record and pitches himself as a moderate.

The tight race also has a potential down-ballot wild card: A hotly contested medical-marijuana proposal that could bring out new voters.

Love, considered a rising star in the GOP, is fighting to keep her seat in a race targeted by national Democrats hoping to regain control of the House. She contends she stands up to Trump on issues like immigration and trade.

"I wasn't sent to Washington to walk in lockstep behind the president, or just be there and fight everything," she said in an interview with The Associated Press, pointing to the federal tax overhaul as a GOP accomplishment.

McAdams, meanwhile, is seeking to burnish his image as a family man planted firmly on the political middle ground who would not support California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker if the Democrats gain control. "I don't like President Trump, but that's not going to stop me from working with him," he told The AP.

In another year, a Democrat would have little chance of making serious headway against a GOP incumbent in a Utah district where Republicans hold a 3-to-1 registration margin.

This year, it's a dead heat.

Utah voters, though generally conservative, have long been wary of Trump's brash style and comments about women and immigrants. While Republican politicians elsewhere have fallen after running afoul of the president, Utah GOP voters picked onetime critic Mitt Romney as Senate nominee in a landslide.

Love's district includes suburbs of blue Salt Lake City, where anti-Trump sentiment runs particularly high.