Utah Representative John Curtis Enters Republican Primary for Open Senate Seat
Curtis becomes the 35th retirement from the U.S. House for the 2024 cycle.
Representative John Curtis of Utah, a Republican, has today announced that he will not seek a fourth term representing the state’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Instead, he will enter the Republican primary for the open U.S. Senate seat in 2024 - which is currently held by Mitt Romney, who is retiring after one term.
Curtis, 63, is the 35th retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives for the upcoming 2024 cycle - 22 Democrats and 13 Republicans. Notably, he is the third House Republican to retire to run for an open Senate seat - joining Jim Banks of Indiana and Alex Mooney of West Virginia.
Curtis has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since November 2017. Utah’s 3rd Congressional District covers the rural southeastern portion of the state. It’s based in the Provo-Orem metro area and also takes in the Salt Lake City suburbs of Holladay, Cottonwood Heights, Sandy and Draper.
In 2017, Curtis won the Republican primary and special election to succeed Jason Chaffetz, who resigned early during his fifth term in office. That was the first special election in Utah in 87 years. Curtis prevailed in the primary with 43.28% against former State Representative Chris Herrod with 32.57% and businessman Tanner Ainge with 24.15%. He was elected in the general with 58.02% against 28.58% for Democrat Kathie Allen.
Before joining the U.S. House of Representatives, Curtis served as the Mayor of Provo, Utah from January 2010 to November 2017. With the heavily Republican lean of the district, Curtis has been re-elected three times with at least 64% of the vote.
For the 118th Congress, Curtis serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Curtis enters a Senate primary that has already produced several notable candidates for the Republican nomination - including State House Speaker Brad Wilson, Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, attorney Brent Hatch (and son of the late Orrin Hatch, who held this Senate seat for 42 years), Roosevelt Mayor Rod Bird, and former Mike Lee advisor Carolyn Phippen. No Democrats or Independents have announced campaigns for this Senate seat. Republicans have held both Senate seats in Utah since Frank Moss left office in 1977.
However, both Bird and Phippen previously teased that they could shift campaigns to the open race for the House if Curtis entered the Senate primary. So far, accountant Tate Howell is the only candidate running for the Republican nomination to represent the 3rd District. Meanwhile, 2022 Democratic nominee Glenn Wright is running again this cycle. Candidates only have a short window to file for these races as the filing deadline to appear on the June primary ballot is next Monday, January 8.
Under the current lines, Donald Trump won Utah’s 3rd Congressional District with a 56.8-37.6 finish against Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. That came as Trump was carrying the state 58.13-37.65 in his ultimately unsuccessful national campaign.