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Republican Trent Staggs, mayor of Riverton, Utah, has been endorsed by President Donald Trump to succeed the retiring Sen. Mitt Romney in the state’s primary race for U.S. Senate.
In the endorsement posted to his Truth Social, the president called Staggs “100% MAGA,” writing that his entrepreneurial background and term as mayor will help him to “Create Jobs, Stop Inflation, Grow the Economy, and Secure the Border.”
“As your next Senator,” President Trump wrote, “Trent will help us Unleash American Energy, Support our Military/Vets, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment,” explained President Trump. “Trent Staggs has my Complete and Total Endorsement – He will be a GREAT Senator, and never let you down!”
Hours after the president endorsed Staggs on Saturday, Utah’s Republican Party selected the mayor to be their nominee, as he received 69.7 percent of the delegates at the state’s election convention, to advance to a primary race.
Utah GOP Rep. John Curtis also received 30.3 percent of the convention’s delegates and will advance to the primary on June 25, along with Staggs and former state House Speaker Brad Wilson, as reported by the Associated Press.
The president then congratulated Staggs on Sunday, posting to Truth Social that the mayor “looks to be in great shape to become a very important and respected factor in the United States Senate.”
Following Utah’s Republican convention, Staggs celebrated his victory while posting to X that it was “time to replace Mitt Romney with an America First Senator.”
Mayor Staggs, who first announced his candidacy in May 2023, told RSBN during an exclusive interview last summer that he would uphold three themes if elected senator: “smaller government, safer families, and a stronger economy.”
If elected to the Senate, Staggs would succeed the incumbent, Sen. Mitt Romney, who declined in September to run for a second term.
Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts and 2012 Republican presidential nominee, was elected to the Senate in 2018. However, the senator has been a staunch critic of President Trump throughout his tenure, leading to a less-than-pleasant relationship with the 45th president.
Romney also supported both impeachments of President Trump, voting to convict the president both times, a decision of which Staggs told RSBN was purely “personal.”
“I have had so many people tell me that they have lost confidence in Mitt Romney,” Staggs previously explained to RSBN. “They may have supported him five years ago, but they definitely would not support him again.”
Staggs also told RSBN last year that, unlike Romney, he supported President Trump in 2016 and 2020 and thought he did a “phenomenal job” as president.
“I’m an America First guy,” the mayor said. “I really loved what President Trump was able to accomplish.”
The winner of Utah’s Republican primary is ultimately expected to win the general election in November, as no Democrat has held a U.S. Senate seat in the state since 1977.
