From left to right: Independent American candidate Carlton Bowen, Republican Utah Rep. John Curtis and Democrat Caroline Gleich participate in a debate put on by the Utah Debate Commission at Weber State University on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Photo by Ryan Ash/Weber State University)
On Nov. 5, three names are on the ballot in the Utah race to replace outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate — and Thursday marked the first general election debate with a Republican, an Independent American candidate, and a Democrat facing off on stage.
Currently Utah’s 3rd Congressional District congressman, Republican Rep. John Curtis framed himself as a conservative candidate best situated to take Romney’s place. He argued he has both the experience and the political savvy to know when it’s time to work across party lines and when to be a “team player” with his party.
Democrat Caroline Gleich, a professional ski mountaineer and social media influencer, pitched herself as the best candidate to answer Romney’s call for the “next generation” to help lead the U.S. as someone who’s more “in touch” with Utah’s young population and their concerns about climate change.
Independent American Carlton Bowen was the slugger — repeatedly throwing the most punches at Curtis for being a “former Democrat” (referring to Curtis’ time serving as vice chairman and chairman of the Utah County Democratic Party from 2002 to 2003). Bowen painted himself as the only “pro-Trump” candidate on the ballot, though he told reporters in the scrum afterward that he would not caucus with either Republicans or Democrats if he were elected.
The hour-long televised face off was hosted by the Utah Debate Commission and moderated by Glen Mills, former ABC4 anchor and chief political correspondent who is currently working as director of communications and government relations for the Utah Department of Corrections. The debate took place at Weber State University in Ogden.
One other candidate — Laird Fetzer Hamblin — is in the race as a write-in candidate, but he did not receive enough support in the Utah Debate Commission’s polling to qualify him for the debate.
In the red state of Utah, Curtis led that poll, conducted by Salt Lake City polling firm Lighthouse Research, with 52.5% of the vote. Gleich got 33.8% and Bowen got 8.4%. The poll of 526 randomly drawn Utah registered voters was conducted Aug. 29 to Sept. 19. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.27 percentage points, according to the Utah Debate Commission, which also made clear its results shouldn’t be “misinterpreted as predictions of the outcomes of any race.”
During Thursday evening’s debate, Mills and Weber State University students asked a wide range of questions, from how candidates would tackle the U.S. national debt, housing affordability, public lands, water, judicial nominations, engaging young voters, foreign policy, immigration, abortion, and political polarization and more.
Watch the entire debate here for the full picture. For a breakdown of some of the highlights, keep reading.
Heated debate on climate change
Throughout the debate and in scrums with reporters afterward, Curtis’ opponents made a point of attacking him over his approaches to climate change and his founding of the House Conservative Climate Caucus.
To Gleich, Curtis hasn’t done nearly enough, as she accused him of employing a “fossil fuel funded delay and distortion tactic,” and said that for Republicans, “delay is the new denial.”
“We deserve a leader that will address this crisis with the urgency it demands,” Gleich told reporters.
From the other corner, Bowen criticized Curtis for focusing too much on climate change, “voting like a Democrat” and attending the United Nations climate caucus, which he claimed could have “an agenda that’s harmful to Utahns,” pointing to blackouts and brownouts in other states like California and Texas.
“He mentioned that the climate is his main issue,” Bowen said. “This is more of an issue of the left.”
Curtis, when questioned by reporters, shrugged off the attacks, saying it underscored that “I can’t be right enough” or “left enough” on the issue.
“Anybody that’s had a chance to hear me talk about climate understands that I do it from a very conservative perspective, so much so that the left would say, you know, you’re not serious about it,” Curtis said. “But I believe that there is a solution for energy needs that’s affordable, reliable and clean that doesn’t leave us dependent on another country for fuel and is right in harmony with conservative values.”
Gleich, however, argued she would take more aggressive action.
“We can clean our air and save lives by accelerating our transition to clean renewable energy while supporting our legacy energy producing communities across the states,” Gleich said. “And we can ensure that the clean energy economy is built with American-led manufacturing and supports good paying union jobs.”
Bowen argued climate change occurs “naturally” and the “government cannot legislate the weather or the climate.”
“We can’t legislate the lake level of the Great Salt Lake,” Bowen said. “We can’t legislate, you know, what the climate is going to be, but politicians can use the cause of climate change to create fear, to create control of what you can buy, of what you can do, and to create profit, frankly.”
Trump vs. Romney
Former President Donald Trump and Romney (who in 2020 was the lone Republican senator to vote to convict Trump on one of two articles of impeachment) came up multiple times during the debate while the three candidates sought to position themselves as the best one to fill Romney’s shoes.
Bowen, even though he’s running as an Independent American, said he’s a “lifelong Republican” who chose to enter the race as a third-party candidate “so there could be a pro-Trump choice on the ballot.”
Curtis won the GOP primary with nearly 49% of the vote over nearly 33% for Trent Staggs, who was endorsed by Trump. While Staggs won 69% support from state delegates at the Utah Republican Party’s nominating convention, Curtis earned his spot on the primary ballot by collecting signatures under Utah’s dual path to the primary by either convention or signature gathering and won when it came to a statewide Republican vote.
Republican Utah Rep. John Curtis speaks to reporters following a debate put on by the Utah Debate Commission at Weber State University on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Photo by Ryan Ash/Weber State University)
When reporters pressed Bowen on why Utahns should base their vote for their next U.S. senator on their endorsement of Trump, Bowen said he believes Trump is “likely to be our next president,” and Romney’s last six years “were characterized by, frankly, his hatred of Donald Trump.”
“I think a lot of Utahns were really dissatisfied with Romney’s service, and I think we have a real chance of having a really similar thing,” Bowen said, accusing Curtis of “refusing” to endorse Trump, which he called a “huge red flag” for a potential “Romney 2.0.”
Curtis pushed back on that. He said there’s a “problem” with “this narrative that with President Trump you’re either all in or you’re all out.” Curtis said when he served with Trump for three years he navigated his alignment with him dependent on Utahns’ needs.
“The way I treated the relationship was when he was promoting something that was good for Utah, Utah’s value, I was all in, and I wanted to be wind at his back. When he was not, I wasn’t afraid to speak up,” Curtis said, adding that Trump “spent too much money and I didn’t vote for his budgets.”
When asked if he’ll vote for Trump this year, Curtis said, “Yes. From the beginning, I have said I would vote for the Republican nominee.”
Gleich, however, made clear that if she’s elected, she would fight back against the “extremism of the Republican party, pulled to the right by the leadership of Donald Trump.”
“That is something I will continue to stand up to, and to really get back to addressing the issues that we need solutions on,” she said.
While Curtis and Bowen clashed over Curtis’ climate change stances or his distant past as a Democrat, Gleich chimed in, saying the issue illustrated “this extremism.”
“This is not what the voters of Utah are most concerned about,” she said, adding that culture wars over LGBTQ+ marriage or bathroom access “is not the role of the government. And I feel that our current leadership is taking us down a dangerous path.”
Democrat Caroline Gleich speaks during a debate put on by the Utah Debate Commission at Weber State University on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Photo by Ryan Ash/Weber State University)
Abortion
One of Gleich’s most direct jabs at Curtis came when she decried “dire unintended consequences” of the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which ended the federal constitutional right to an abortion and returned regulating power to the states.
She said the decision has caused OB-GYNs to consider leaving Utah (an OB-GYN’s study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology found 1 in 5 OB-GYN residents changed which states they intended to practice after the Dobbs decision). She also said more women are dying during childbirth (Women in states with abortion bans are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or soon after giving birth, according to a report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute). She said the rhetoric over abortion has also spread into “attacks on IVF” (in vitro fertilization).
“My opponent has said, ‘I wish, as a man, I didn’t have to make these decisions,” Gleich said. “Well, Rep. Curtis, you don’t. And it’s long past time to end this egregious government overreach into our most personal and intimate decisions.”
Curtis argued she got his quote wrong. He said at the time he wished there “were more women in elected office to help us make this decision, and I stand by that. I wish that were true.”
However, Curtis argued abortion has turned into a “divisive” topic between the left and the right where it’s become difficult to find common ground, and it’s time to heal those divides.
“When you throw things like I don’t support IVF, how ludicrous is that. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t support IVF and view it as pro-life,” Curtis said. “And so I think it’s time we dial down the rhetoric, that we have serious conversations about how to move forward.”
Bowen said he’s “100% opposed to abortion,” and he argued “the leftist rhetoric is harming women.”
Independent American Party candidate Carlton Bowen speaks to reporters following a debate put on by the Utah Debate Commission at Weber State University on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Photo by Ryan Ash/Weber State University)
“There is no state in the United States where you cannot get health care from a miscarriage from an abortion, but there are women who are afraid to get it.” Bowen said. “And same with IVF, that is not an abortion-related issue.”
Gleich pushed back, saying Republicans have introduced legislation that “would effectively ban IVF,” and she pointed to an initiative by the Heritage Foundation called Project 2025, which would prohibit abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds.
“These decisions are going to have a dire effect on Americans’ ability to receive life-saving reproductive health care, because abortion is health care,” she said.
Utah’s trigger near-total abortion ban is currently on hold while it’s being litigated in courts, but the Utah Supreme Court recently upheld the preliminary injunction that’s currently blocking it from taking effect. Currently, abortions are legal in Utah up to 18 weeks, but if the courts rule it constitutional, the Utah law would ban almost all abortions, with some exceptions for rape, incest and certain health issues.
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