Brad Wilson, the Republican House Speaker of Utah, reportedly declared on Thursday that he has established an exploratory committee to run for the Senate. This is the first indication that Wilson may take face Republican Sen. Mitt Romney in 2024.
Wilson is considering running for senator because of the “out of control spending” in Washington, but he wouldn’t say if a Romney campaign would influence his decisions.
“I’ve really loved the opportunity that we’ve had to keep government small and out of people’s lives, it’s part of why Utah is so special. I really believe that what Washington needs is to be a lot more like Utah. We’ve got this amazing opportunity to send Utah values back to D.C., and to have a conservative fighter back there, doing things back there the way we do them here in the Beehive State.” Wilson said during an interview with Deseret News.
“I’m not necessarily being disrespectful to anyone that’s back there. But I think that, Utah, we do things here so differently than how it’s done there that I’d probably want to take my own mold back there and not mold myself after anyone.”
Romney has not yet declared his intention to run for office again, but on Tuesday he submitted a “statement of candidacy” to the Federal Elections Commission.
Wilson refused to criticize Romney despite the senator receiving some pushback from Utah Republicans and stated that those discussions should wait until the primary when the GOP field would be completely established, according to Deseret News.
The speaker asserted that he thinks abortion should be regulated at the state level and that America has to have a more defined goal in mind with regard to the conflict in Ukraine.
Romney has submitted FEC papers, but he has not yet made up his mind on 2024.
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