He doesn’t want to be known as the replacement of retiring Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT). The same goes for being the conservative “ climate guy .”
Rep. John Curtis (R-UT), fresh off winning a competitive GOP primary for Utah’s open Senate seat, warned Beehive State voters they may be “disappointed” if they expect him to be a mold of his predecessor or Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
“The reality of it is, while I have great respect for both Sen. Romney and Sen. Lee, I’m just different than both of them,” Curtis told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
As Senate Republicans seek to retake the chamber and deepen its bench, his future colleagues, at least for now, may be left wondering if he’ll bolster a dwindling centrist faction crucial to striking deals with Democrats or the hard-line Republican wing that has seen its ranks grow in recent elections.
The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. And his presence, should he clench the general election this November in the reliably red state, could affect day-to-day policy debates and the heated contest to find the next Senate Republican leader.