John Curtis Defeats MAGA Opponent in Utah GOP Senate Primary to Replace Romney
Rep. John Curtis (R., Utah) speaks at the Utah County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner in Provo, Utah, February 16, 2018.
Representative John Curtis won the Utah Republican Senate primary on Tuesday over a Trump-endorsed candidate to replace outgoing Senator Mitt Romney.
Curtis won the primary easily with nearly 52 percent of the vote over MAGA candidate Trent Staggs, who had 28.5 percent with over three-quarters of the votes counted, according to the Associated Press. Former Utah state house speaker Brad Wilson placed third in the primary, capturing 13.6 percent of the vote.
Curtis is considered to be a moderate Republican, as shown by his vote for the Respect for Marriage Act codifying the Obergefell Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide. He is a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and the moderate Republican Main Street Caucus.
Additionally, Curtis founded the Conservative Climate Caucus and did not get behind former president Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election. Curtis voted against both of Trump’s impeachments and is a strong supporter of Taiwan’s national security in the face of Chinese aggression.
The conservative Heritage Foundation’s activist arm, Heritage Action, gives Curtis an 88 percent lifetime score, higher than the average Republican lawmaker.
In the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Curtis did not support Trump, and his wife was a supporter of rival candidate Nikki Haley.
Polls taken ahead of the election consistently showed Curtis in the lead over Staggs and Wilson. But Staggs won the Utah GOP convention with support from Trump and MAGA activist Charlie Kirk, Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. Utah representative Blake Moore (R.) and former representative Chris Stewart (R.) backed Curtis’s campaign.
During his Senate campaign, Staggs exaggerated his opposition to coronavirus-pandemic restrictions as mayor of Riverton. Staggs also ran as a law-and-order candidate, contradicting his past support of left-wing anti-bias programs for police officers.
With his Republican primary victory, Curtis is the strong favorite to become Utah’s next senator after Romney, 77, chose not to run for another term. In his single term, Romney became a key swing vote and a strong critic of Trump, to the point at which Romney voted twice to convict Trump after his impeachments.
Before his Senate term, Romney was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and lost to former president Obama.
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