CURTIS or ROMNEY – The Votes Are In
With the victory in Utah’s primary on Tuesday night, John Curtis moved one step closer to his goal of unseating retiring moderate Republican Sen. Mitt Romney. Could this be a pivotal change for the state of Utah?
When the Associated Press declared the race, Curtis won it by a hair, having 52% of the majority vote, which places him one step closer to unseating his predecessor, Mitt Romney.
He will now go on to the main election in November when he will run against Caroline Gleich, the Democratic candidate. Since 1970, Utah has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate.
Trent Staggs, the runner-up, scored 28.2%. By personally contacting delegates and enticing their endorsements around the country, Staggs expanded his support base. In April, the outgoing president said that Staggs is a “100% MAGA” candidate who understands how to control inflation, expand the economy, and fortify the border between the United States and Mexico.
It wasn’t even until Romney said he wasn’t running for reelection that Staggs entered the Senate contest, which was rather surprising. We wonder if Staggs is looking to simply get a chance to run without Romney being present.
As the member of Utah’s House delegation with the longest tenure, Rep. John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, has positioned himself as an alternative to Staggs, who has the support of President Trump. Curtis, 63, a former Provo mayor, has been a member of Congress since 2017. He was elected in a special election that year and has been reelected with significant margins ever since.
Very similar to Romney, Curtis is more left-leaning than the rest of the Republican wing on topics like climate change and hasn’t embraced Trump for president, which puts him squarely in line with Romney’s support base. This means he could potentially be a good addition for those who did support Mitt Romney.
Even though he had given $3 million to his campaign, Brad Wilson, a conservative who had previously been seen as a front-runner, fell to Staggs at the state Republican convention in April. Candidate Jason Walton, meanwhile, presented himself as a businessman who is comparable to Trump.
