(ConservativeInsider.org) – Two moderate Republican candidates running for the US Senate and governorship won their primaries in Utah against pro-Trump candidates.
Moderate GOP Congressman John Curtis won the Republican primary for the open seat of the outgoing Senator Mitt Romney against Trent Staggs, while the incumbent governor Spencer Cox, who has a record of going against Trump, also defeated his competitor, Phil Lyman.
Both Staggs and Lyman had the backing of former president Donald Trump and won the Utah Republican convention, where most delegates belonged to the far-right. However, the GOP silent voters in the state helped Cox and Curtis win their respective races comfortably in the primary elections. Lyman also received a presidential pardon from Trump back in 2020.
Utah has not elected any Democratic Senator since 1970, which means that Curtis is expected to easily defeat his Democratic candidate, Caroline Gleich, in the November elections.
Meanwhile, the retiring Senator Mitt Romney backed Curtis and called him a man of honor who would protect the interests of Utahns in the Senate. Just like Romney, Curtis also has moderate opinions on various issues, especially climate change.
Curtis’s former neighbor in the city of Provo, Gordon Robinson, stated that Curtis has the ability to cooperate with the Senators of the other party and that his backing of Ukraine and respect for the deteriorating environment makes him famous.
On the other hand, Curtis’s Democratic rival Gleich accused him of bowing down to the fossil fuel industry and doing nothing to protect the climate, adding that he is not a moderate candidate.
The defeat of pro-Trump candidates in Utah also rings alarm bells for Trump, who has developed severe differences with Utah’s Mormon Church, which is joined by at least 42% of the state population.
Even those residents who voted for Staggs claimed that they did not support Trump but were only rallying behind his candidate because the opponent was not conservative enough to earn their vote.
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