SANDY, Utah (AP) — A Republican Utah mayor considered the front-runner in a race to replace Jason Chaffetz in the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to carefully embrace President Donald Trump’s agenda during a Friday night debate while distancing
SANDY, Utah (AP) — A Republican Utah mayor considered the front-runner in a race to replace Jason Chaffetz in the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to carefully embrace President Donald Trump’s agenda during a Friday night debate while distancing himself from the president personally.
John Curtis, the popular mayor of the Mormon stronghold of Provo, is set to appear in a Friday night debate against Democratic Dr. Kathryn Allen, United Utah Party candidate Jim Bennett (the son of former U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett), and Libertarian Joe Buchman,
Curtis has a heavy advantage in the special election as the GOP candidate in Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 5-to-1.
But his muddled support for the president has complicated his campaign.
Trump’s brash personality, his martial history and his comments about women, minorities and refugees turned off many Republicans and moderates in Utah, where the Mormon-majority population stresses family values, polite manners and a compassionate stance toward immigrants and refugees.
The president won Utah’s 3rd Congressional District in November, but he did so with only 47 percent of the vote — far below Republican presidential candidates in 2012 and 2008, who collected more than two-thirds of the vote.
Curtis was the only GOP candidate in a three-way primary in August who didn’t vote for Trump. He has condemned the president’s comments about the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, but also said he supports the Trump agenda.
His main opponents, Allen and Bennett, the first candidate of a new centrist United Utah Party, criticized Curtis for his social media campaign ads last month calling for Congress to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall and “stop sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration officials.
Allen and Bennett called the ads insensitive and extreme.
Curtis quickly pulled the ads and apologized, saying his staff “underestimated how contentious” the posts were and took them down after they were criticized for being hostile.
Curtis said he supports the call for a border wall but hedged the support, saying it might be more appropriate to use technology instead of a wall to secure parts of the border.
Bennett has said Curtis is a good man but should feel uncomfortable in the “Party of Trump.”
Jim Bennett, whose father was ousted in 2010 by a tea-party fueled wave, left the Republican Party last year after it became clear Trump would be the nominee.
Allen, a well-funded Democrat, initially planned to challenge Chaffetz in 2018, socking away more than half a million dollars after she called out Chaffetz earlier this year for his comments suggesting people should spend money on health care instead of iPhones. She later jumped into the special election to replace him.
