We have written many times over the years about the “Trumpization” of the Senate Republican Conference and the general decline of deal-brokering centrists in the Senate.
The past few elections have seen the departure of several veteran Republican senators and their replacement by Republicans closer to former President Donald Trump, as well as the retirement of senators from both parties who played key roles in some of the most high-profile bipartisan deals of the past decade.
Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) is trying to buck this trend.
Curtis is this year’s Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican who has openly criticized the party’s rightward shift and has not endorsed Trump. Romney was also central to many of the bipartisan achievements that have defined the first two years of President Joe Biden’s presidency.
If Curtis beats his Democratic opponent in November – as is expected in the heavily Republican state – Romney’s seat will not be filled by a Republican who supports Trump.
The candidate will be a little-known four-term congressman and former Democrat who defeated a Trump-backed candidate in the Republican primary and has taken a proactive stance on climate and energy policy and sought bipartisan cooperation.
“When faced with the choice between serving as a senator or spending time with my grandchildren, the decision was clear,” said Curtis, 64. “I want to serve as a senator only if I can approach it with a mindset focused on solving difficult problems. If not, I will choose to spend time with my family.”
Curtis is facing off against Democrat Caroline Gleich, a climate activist who co-founded the House Conservative Climate Caucus several years ago and recently won the endorsement of the Environmental Defense Fund’s political arm.
“I’ve carved out a niche for myself in the energy and climate space, so naturally I’m eager to tackle this pressing issue,” Curtis said, adding that there is “a place for everyone, including conservatives” in the climate policy discussion.
Of course, this isn’t something you hear often from Republicans recently elected to the Senate.
National Security: Curtis also wants to establish himself as a leading voice within the Republican Party on national security issues, particularly China. Curtis is a Mormon who lived in Taiwan for two years as a missionary.
“We can have a productive relationship with China, but only if we demand a relationship that doesn’t turn a blind eye to them taking advantage of us,” Curtis said. “They steal our intellectual property, pollute our environment, and ignore basic human rights.”
Curtis stressed that his concern was with the Chinese Communist Party, not the Chinese people — a line often heard from Democrats who warn that much of the rhetoric about Chinese aggression in the West could lead to hate acts against people of Chinese descent.
In contrast, it is no exaggeration to say that if elected to the Senate, Curtis would operate very differently than Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
Lee is one of the senator’s most conservative members and a vocal critic of party leaders who compromise with Democrats.
But Curtis has always stressed the need to find common ground, noting that much of his tenure as a congressman was spent under divided government.
Andrew Desiderio
