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Utah Senate candidate Trent Staggs carries a “Utah For Trump flag” throughout a rally on June 14, 2024, in Orem, Utah. Rick Bowmer/AP Picture
Former President Donald Trump hates losers, however he backed one within the Utah Senate race this yr. Regardless of a much-promoted endorsement from Trump, Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs misplaced the GOP main to Rep. John Curtis by 20 factors on Tuesday. The first victory all however ensures that Curtis would be the state’s subsequent US Senator in a state that hasn’t despatched a Democrat to the Senate since 1970.
Staggs was the primary Republican candidate to formally problem Sen. Mitt Romney final yr, months earlier than the one-term senator introduced his retirement. He assiduously labored right-wing media to name consideration to his candidacy, and he sought out endorsements from a bunch of MAGA celebrities. As I defined in April:
He’s been endorsed by a string of nationwide right-wing luminaries, together with podcaster and former Trump Treasury official Monica Crowley, Ric Grenell, Trump’s performing director of nationwide intelligence in 2020, and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, who hosted a non-public fundraiser for him in Utah in September. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville campaigned for him in March. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who calls himself the “Trumpiest congressman,” headlined a rally for Staggs on March 28; Turning Level USA’s Charlie Kirk joins him this week. And Staggs simply scored the endorsement of failed GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy after signing his “American Fact Pledge,” which commits him to, amongst different issues, in search of a 75 % discount within the measurement of the federal authorities and mandating that each one highschool seniors move a civics take a look at as a way to vote.
Staggs additionally made a pilgrimage to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and even scored a talking slot at CPAC, the oldest and largest conservative convention within the nation.
The issue along with his technique was that whereas it might have raised his profile, most people making up these audiences don’t vote in Utah. His marketing campaign additionally targeted on generic MAGA speaking factors, and he confirmed a placing lack of familiarity with Utah-specific considerations.
The issue along with his technique was that whereas it might have raised his profile, most people making up these audiences don’t vote in Utah.
Curtis had led the polls as quickly as he entered the race, and Staggs by no means caught up. The co-founder of the Home Conservative Local weather Caucus that focuses on clear vitality coverage, Curtis is a well-liked former mayor of Provo who as soon as was a Democrat. He has represented Utah’s third district since 2017 and was seen as Romney’s inheritor obvious. He has resisted endorsing Trump for president and after the riot on the US Capitol on January 6, he launched a decision condemning Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election outcomes.
Curtis got here to the race with deep pockets, together with the assist of Conservative Values for Utah, a super-PAC largely funded by one man: Jay Faison, a conservative North Carolina philanthropist who claims to need to speed up a transition to scrub vitality by supporting nuclear energy, pure gasoline fracking, and carbon-capture know-how.
Staggs’ sole victory was in Washington County in Southern Utah, one of many state’s fastest-growing areas that’s additionally a hotbed of extremism. When the far-right activist Ammon Bundy not too long ago fled Idaho to dodge an arrest warrant that had been issued for him for failing to point out up in courtroom for proceedings in a civil defamation go well with in opposition to him, he sought refuge in Washington County. However nearly all over the place else, Curtis crushed Staggs, even in rural areas the place Romney had been wildly unpopular. The Trump endorsement didn’t even assist Staggs in tiny Beaver County, which in 2020 gave Trump his greatest win within the state, with 87 % of the vote.
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