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الوسم: Utah

  • Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is expected to win reelection after his surprising endorsement of Trump

    Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is expected to win reelection after his surprising endorsement of Trump

    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is expected to easily win reelection in the deeply red state, but his surprising choice to back Donald Trump this year has voters wondering what they should expect over the next four years from a leader they long thought to be a moderate Republican.

    Cox is favored to win over Democrat Brian King, a trial lawyer and state representative who served for eight years as Utah’s House minority leader.

    The governor also faces conservative write-in candidate Phil Lyman, who urged his supporters to vote for him instead of Cox after losing the Republican primary in June. Lyman’s campaign threatens to pull some Republican support away from Cox, but it likely won’t be enough to affect the outcome.

    While moderate Republicans have historically fared well in Utah’s statewide elections, Cox has recently sought to convince voters that he is more conservative than his record shows.

    The governor bewildered voters and political observers when he pledged his support to Trump after the July assassination attempt on the former president. Cox did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020.

    Cox’s sudden turnabout has risked his reputation with his moderate voting base while likely doing little to win over followers of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, many of whom booed Cox at the state GOP convention this year.

    The governor has dug in his heels in the months since he backed Trump. He reaffirmed his commitment to Trump in September even as the former president faced scrutiny for ramping up rhetoric against immigrants — behavior Cox said he hoped Trump would abandon when he endorsed him in July.

    Cox also has appeared with Trump on the campaign trail and at Arlington National Cemetery, where each appearance was ensnared in a controversy. After Trump’s staff had an altercation with a cemetery official, Cox broke rules — and likely federal law — in using a graveside photo with Trump in a campaign fundraising email.

    Trump has not in turn endorsed Cox’s bid for a second term in the governor’s office.

    Polls statewide open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

  • US Rep. John Curtis is favored to win Mitt Romney’s open Senate seat in Utah

    US Rep. John Curtis is favored to win Mitt Romney’s open Senate seat in Utah

    PROVO, Utah (AP) — Utah voters are poised to decide whether a Republican representative or his lesser-known Democratic opponent will succeed Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate.

    U.S. Rep. John Curtis, the longest-serving member of Utah’s House delegation, is highly favored to win in a deep red state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1970. He is viewed as a moderate Republican in the manner of Romney but pledges to carve out his own brand of conservatism if elected.

    Curtis faces Democrat Caroline Gleich, a mountaineer and environmental activist from Park City, who has tried to convince voters that her opponent is not as moderate as he might seem.

    Both are vying to succeed one of Washington’s most prominent centrists and an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump.

    The candidates have often sparred over their differing approaches to climate change, a top issue for both.

    Curtis, 64, is the founder of the Conservative Climate Caucus on Capitol Hill. The coalition pitches GOP alternatives to Democratic climate policies that Curtis says aim to lower emissions without compromising American jobs or economic principles.

    During his seven years in Congress, Curtis has developed a reputation for pushing back against party leaders, such as Trump, who have falsely claimed that climate change is a hoax.

    Gleich, 38, has accused Curtis of pandering to the fossil fuel industry and has criticized him for voting against proposals posed by Democrats that she said could have better protected public lands, air and water.

    Moderate Republicans tend to prevail in statewide elections in Utah, as evidenced by Curtis’ win over a Trump-backed mayor in the June GOP primary.

    Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who make up about half of the state’s 3.4 million residents, have been a reliably Republican voting bloc for decades. But many have been hesitant to embrace Trump and his allies, saying the former president’s brash style and comments about immigrants and refugees clash with their religious beliefs.

    Polls statewide open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.