John Curtis won Utah’s primary election on Tuesday night, moving him one step closer to succeeding retiring moderate Republican Sen. Mitt Romney.
At the time the Associated Press announced the election results, Curtis was leading with 52% of the vote.
He will move on to the general election in November to face Democratic candidate Caroline Gleick. Utah has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1970.
Utah Republicans select Trump-backed candidate to replace Sen. Romney, but primary still to come
(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/Rick Bowmer)
Runner-up Trent Staggs had 28.2% support. Staggs built his base by calling delegates directly and securing endorsements from Trump and many of his supporters across the country. Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social, in April that Staggs was a “100% MAGA” candidate who knew how to stop inflation, grow the economy and secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
Utah Republicans select Trump-backed candidate to replace Sen. Romney, but primary still to come
Staggs was the first candidate to launch a Senate campaign even before Romney announced he would not seek reelection.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Tuesday he would not support former President Trump running for president again, saying it was a matter of character. (Photo by William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images / Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), currently the longest-serving member of Utah’s House delegation, is positioning himself as a replacement for the Trump-endorsed Staggs. Curtis, 63, a former Provo mayor, has served in the House since 2017, winning a special election that year and winning reelection by wide margins every year since.
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Like Romney, Curtis has not endorsed President Trump, likely to align with Romney’s base, and he also leans more to the left than other Republican candidates on issues such as climate change.
Another conservative candidate, former state Assembly Speaker Brad Wilson, was once considered a front-runner before losing to Staggs at the state Republican convention in April despite spending $3 million on his campaign, while Jason Walton has described himself as a Trump-like businessman.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
