In September, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, announced his decision not to run for re-election in 2024. Romney, 76, encouraged younger leaders to run instead.
And two rising stars just jumped into the race Tuesday. Jockeying for the GOP nomination are U.S. Rep. John Curtis and lawyer Brent Hatch, the son of Senate legend Orrin Hatch.
Curtis announced his campaign to KSL-TV Tuesday.
Previously, Curtis had denied any plans to run. He wrote an op-ed in October pledging to “stay out of the U.S. Senate race at this time.”
However, Curtis said that his constituents asked him to reconsider. He ultimately changed his mind, and he told KSL-TV about his plans to continue representing Utahns… but with a bigger platform.
“The second I made the announcement that I was not going to run, I started to have people reach out to me asking me to reconsider,” Curtis reportedly told KSL-TV.
“The very people who had made that commitment to were a lot of those voices who said, ‘You can actually serve us better in the Senate than you can in the House.’ And so without that, I don’t I don’t think I could have changed my mind.”
Brent Hatch also announced his candidacy Tuesday. Hatch is one of six children of the late Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, who retired after 42 years in office in 2019 and died in 2022.
Curtis has served eastern Utah’s Third District since 2017. He was previously mayor of Provo, Utah, for seven years and for a time was a county-level Democratic Party official.
Take a look —
I just left the Lt Governor's office where I filed to run for U.S. Senate! 🇺🇸 I’ll keep working hard to get things done for Utah & make our state an even better place. Together, we can ensure America has a bright future. Join me by donating/volunteering at https://t.co/U6Yw5H2k4H pic.twitter.com/1x9rSQndqx
— John Curtis (@CurtisUT) January 3, 2024
Brent Hatch also announced his candidacy Tuesday. He is one of six children of the late Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, who retired after 42 years in office in 2019 and died in 2022.
The younger Hatch is a trial lawyer who is treasurer and past director of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that advocates interpreting the U.S. Constitution according to the context in which it was written.
He was an associate White House counsel under President George H.W. Bush and a Utah delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention.
Even though Hatch has boasted “insider’s knowledge of the highest levels of government,” he also described himself as “not a professional politician” in a statement through his campaign.
“I left Washington at an early age,” Hatch said. “I have worked for over 33 years here in Utah as a lawyer protecting the rights of individuals and companies.”
Others running to succeed Romney include former Utah House speaker Brad Wilson, a Republican who announced his campaign in September, and lesser-known Republicans including Riverton, Utah, Mayor Trent Staggs and Roosevelt, Utah, Mayor Rod Bird Jr.
Republicans carry a substantial advantage in Utah, outnumbering Democrats by more than three to one. In 2018, the Senate Democrats didn’t run anyone against incumbent Republican Mike Lee. Instead, they endorsed Evan McMullin, an independent candidate known for his ties to the Latter-Day Saints.
“This is going to be a blockbuster Republican primary election,” Damon Cann, a Utah State University political scientist, told The Hill after Romney’s announcement.
“We don’t see a lot of open Senate seats in Utah.”
Take a look at some of Hatch’s remarks on his father’s legacy —
“I love you dad.”
This is just some of what Orrin Hatch’s son, Brent said to me about his father’s legacy and how much he’ll miss him
Orrin was going to lie in state at the US Capitol but his family says he wanted to be in Utah @abc4utah pic.twitter.com/gh6JK2xZue
— Jordan Burrows (@jordan_burrows) May 4, 2022
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.