There’s no shortage of candidates lining up to replace Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate.
On Tuesday, two more Republicans announced they were launching campaigns to serve in the seat representing Utah that is currently occupied by Romney – the one-time GOP presidential candidate. Romney announced that he would not be seeking re-election to Congress and would instead be retiring.
One of the new challengers is Representative John Curtis, who had previously declined to run for the seat. In a video posted this week, though, he said he changed his mind.
In that video, Curtis says:
“As a father and a grandfather, I care deeply about Utah’s future. That’s why today, I’m announcing my candidacy for the U.S. Senate. We need to get America back on track. As your senator, I’ll work hard every day to make Utah an even better place.”
Curtis has served in Congress since he was first elected in 2017. He pledged that if he were to be elected senator, he would fight against the “reckless spending” that the Biden administration is conducting now, work so that America can be both energy dominant and independent, secure the country’s southern border with Mexico and stand up to China, among other things.
The other new candidate who announced his bid is Brent Orrin Hatch. His late father, Orrin G. Hatch, once held the seat that Romney currently occupies.
His father served in the U.S. Senate for 42 years and was actually succeeded by Romney back in 2018.
Hatch hasn’t held an elected political office just yet, but he has a good amount of experience working in the nation’s capital. He once was a law clerk to Judge Robert Bork and also served as an associate White House counsel during the George H.W. Bush administration.
In a statement announcing his candidacy, Hatch said:
“I am not a professional politician. I left Washington at an early age. I have worked for over 33 years here in Utah as a lawyer protecting the rights of individuals and companies. But, I still have an insider’s knowledge of the highest levels of government from serving Presidents Reagan and Bush in the White House, working with Congress and in the courts.”
Hatch said he would focus his campaign on fighting inflation, securing the southern border and managing the out-of-control federal budget.
The two new candidates will join a long list of other Republicans who are seeking to replace Romney in the upper chamber of Congress. That list includes Brad Wilson, the former speaker of the Utah House, as well as Trent Staggs, the mayor of the city of Riverton.
When Romney announced in mid-September that he wouldn’t be running for re-election, he said he was doing so because it was time for “a new generation of leaders” to represent Utah in Congress.
The GOP shouldn’t have to worry about this seat, though, as the Cook Political Report says it’s a “Solid Republican” district. The big election, then, will be for the Republican nomination.
