Convention, ‘schmevention. As we wrote last month, Utah Republican primary voters appear poised to reject far-right candidates endorsed at the May conventions and elect less antagonistic GOP hopefuls in both the Senate and gubernatorial contests on June 25 who still haven’t formally endorsed Donald Trump.
According to polling and Utah sources, Rep. John Curtis (UT-03) is the clear frontrunner for retiring Mitt Romney’s open seat. Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, whose last-minute endorsement from former President Trump gave him a boost amongst the MAGA-faithful delegates in the April convention, has not been able to create any real momentum from that coveted nod.
This race features a clear delineation between Curtis and the rest of the field, with his three opponents splitting up the pro-Trump vote enough to give the congressman the edge.
A June 4-7 Deseret News/University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics survey by HarrisX showed Curtis leading with 34%, followed by Staggs at 16%, former state House Speaker Brad Wilson at 12% and pest control CEO Jason Walton at 4%. Notably, a third of voters were still undecided, but
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