John Curtis plans 250-mile Utah walk as he weighs governor run

john curtis is considering a run for governor while planning a 250-mile solo walk across Utah to think about his political future. The U.S. senator from Utah, who has been in office for less than two years, also plans to end the walk on July 4 in Provo.

Curtis and the Utah Senate seat

Curtis replaced former Sen. Mitt Romney last year, giving him only a short window in the Senate before the governor talk surfaced. Politico reported that he is considering the race, and a Utah Republican operative said, "He doesn’t love being in the Senate."

That same operative said, "Trump’s MAGA base sees him as one of the four squishiest Republicans. He’s basically Mitt without the stature." Those comments put the pressure point on Curtis’s political future: he is a pragmatic dealmaker and moderate voice, but the Republican primary electorate in Utah has often been less forgiving of lawmakers who cut deals across the aisle.

Utah's maverick path

Utah has a history of backing maverick-style lawmakers, yet those candidates frequently run into trouble in primaries. Romney lasted one term before concluding he had no path to re-election, and his prior vote to impeach the president earned him hard enemies in the MAGA electorate.

Curtis, who served three terms in the U.S. House as a former mayor and business executive, has recently gone on a retreat in the mountains to pray and meditate about running. The planned walk now gives him more time to do that before he decides whether to leave the Senate for a governor's race.

July 4 in Provo

The walk itself is part commemoration and part decision-making: Curtis plans to cover 250 miles across Utah in honor of the U.S.' 250th anniversary. It ends in Provo on July 4, and by then he will have had a long stretch away from Washington to settle on the next move in his political career.