The race is on to succeed Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate and all eyes are on fellow Republican John Curtis. At the very least, his opponents are focused on him.
Right from the opening statements of the debate organized by the Utah Debate Commission, one common thread ran throughout the hour-long exchange: attacks on Curtis from both the right and left. Carlton Bowen of the Independent American Party and Democrat Caroline Gleich turned back to their opponent again and again on the stage at the Browning Center at Weber State University.
Republicans have dominated Utah’s Senate seats for nearly the last half-century. The last Democratic senator from the state was Frank Moss, who served from 1959-1977.
It was a streak that might be in danger as Bowen, an Air Force veteran and former American Fork city councilor, told it. He noted that his “Republican opponent, a former Democrat, refuses to endorse President Trump, and actually called for his censure and for an impeachment inquiry,” he said. The former Democrat line would become a familiar refrain.
Bowen billed himself as a lifelong Republican but he chose to register and run as an Independent American to be the “the only pro-Trump candidate on the ballot.”
Curtis was a Democrat before registering as a Republican in the mid-2000s. He said his early affiliation was borne out of a feeling that “the Republican Party was losing its base,” before he later turned the line back on Bowen.
“If you're damning somebody because they were once a Democrat, you have to rule out Donald Trump” and “rule out Ronald Reagan” as well, he noted.
“When President Trump is doing things that are in line with Utah values, I'm 100% behind him, wind at his back,” Curtis said. “My record also shows that when he's not, I'm not afraid to push back. And I think that's what Utahns really want.”
Gleich, who at 38 is the youngest candidate in the race, made the plea to voters that it was time for Utah to send a politician to Washington who is “more in touch with the issues that young people are facing today.”
“We cannot keep sending the same kind of politicians and expecting a different result,” the environmental activist and pro-skier said. “It's time for the next generation to step in.”
Curtis was first elected to the House in a special election in 2017 after former Rep. Jason Chaffetz resigned from the 3rd Congressional District seat. Before then, Curtis was the mayor of Provo. He said in his time in Congress, he made progress by reaching across the aisle. The Center for Effective Lawmaking found Curtis to be the ninth most effective Republican member of the House when advancing a legislative agenda.
“Almost all of that time [in Washington] has been in a divided Congress,” he said. “That means you have to get Democrats, you have to get Republicans, to find that cross-section where they can both agree to that legislation.”
Public lands and water
Utah’s relationship with the federal government on the management of public lands took center stage this summer after the state filed a landmark lawsuit challenging ownership of millions of acres currently controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
When asked what a “successful partnership” should look like between Utah and the federal government on public lands, Bowen was quick to suggest a rewrite of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which was used to designate national monuments in Utah like Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears.
“This Act has been abused by Presidents Clinton and Obama and others to set aside millions of acres of Utah land,” Carlton said. “These monuments locked up public roads that Utahns used and had privately owned lands inside of them.”
Curtis agreed that the Antiquities Act has been abused, but suggested building consensus among various land stakeholders as a better path forward.
“The only way you get [public lands policy] through congressional legislation is if you actually have consensus between the environmental groups, between ranchers, between off-road enthusiasts,” he said. “It's hard to do, but that's Congress' job and one of the very most important things we can do.”
To Gleich, public lands are “national treasures” and attacks on the the Antiquities Act are a “waste of taxpayer dollars.” She took a strong stance on maintaining federal control and securing more funding.
“Right now, our public lands are under attack,” she said. “We have seen this massive effort to transfer our federally protected public lands to state control, and we know the vast majority of the time that happens, they are sold to the highest bidder for energy development, mineral extraction, and so that politicians can line their pockets with the sale and privatization for other development, and they're closed forever.”
Water, or the lack of it, is always at the top of Utahns’ minds. The state saw several years of severe drought conditions and winters with below-average snowpack before two strong back-to-back winters in 2023 and 2024.
Curtis was keen to point out that despite over 70% of the state’s water going toward agriculture, Utah’s farm industry “is not the enemy” and called for more collaboration on water conservation.
“I think that combination of the private sector, of not demonizing agriculture, of using Utah's innovation will help us solve this in a way that will help us grow and prosper the way that we'd like to do it.”
Gleich is well-known in the climate activism space and said the shrinking Great Salt Lake was “one of the top concerns” she’s heard from voters.
“Not only do we need to speed up water conservation methods to get more water to the Great Salt Lake, we also need to redefine and revamp our entire western way of looking at water,” she said. “Because the entire Colorado River Basin is connected and water is a finite resource. We're not going to get another drop.”
Bowen advocated for less government intervention on the issues of climate change and water. Specifically on the Great Salt Lake, he dismissed direct action and said you “can't legislate the lake level.”
“The pioneers recognized that water is a critical resource for Utah, and beneficial use meant using it for farming and to live, to drink, and changing that definition to allow a certain amount to go down to the lake is very dangerous for our state.”
Immigration
Much of the political oxygen nationally and in Utah has been taken up by immigration and the border. Candidates were asked what it would take for them to support a bipartisan solution to the crisis.
While he supports legal immigration, Bowen said the country has an illegal immigration problem because “we aren't enforcing our laws that we currently have.” And amnesty for those who are already here is off the table.
“It just encourages people to break the law again in the future, it's a huge problem,” he said. “If you do amnesty as a compromise, you just continue to have this problem be worse more and more down the road.”
Curtis decried what he called “politicking versus governing” by those in Washington who use immigration as a tool to win elections.
“The reality of it is we have a broken border and we have a broken immigration system and anybody who puts their neck out and tries to put a plan forward has their head whacked off by the political extremes,” he said. “You can see why we're not making progress on this in Washington, D.C. We've got to get away from this narrative”
For Gleich, moving the needle includes passing the bipartisan immigration bill that lost support on the eve of votes being cast in Congress and adopting a more compassionate stance toward those who choose to cross the border.
“Utah was founded by people who came here to find a better life for themselves and their families,” she said. “I would expect that our officials and our leaders would have more kindness and compassion in our hearts to how we treat our immigrant communities because they are our neighbors.”
Ballots will be mailed to registered voters starting on Oct. 15.