John Curtis was only a few weeks into his new job as Utah’s junior senator when a former Home colleague put him squarely within the highlight.
As former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his bid to be lawyer basic, The New York Occasions reported he’d instructed these near him that there have been 4 GOP senators who have been “implacably opposed,” sufficient to sink his nomination – together with Senator Curtis.
Mr. Curtis says that isn’t fully correct. “Matt made that up,” he says. “That got here from nowhere.” However, he provides, “Matt’s good sufficient to know I might have had some severe issues along with his nomination.”
Why We Wrote This
Utah Sen. John Curtis, like his predecessor, doesn’t all the time agree with President Trump. However his method leaves extra room for consensus – and exhibits how the Senate GOP has modified.
The episode marked the newly elected senator as one among a handful of Republicans who may wind up shaping – and presumably stalling – the agenda of the incoming president, from cupboard nominations to big-ticket laws.
Gaetz-gate was fairly a begin for a self-described “excessive introvert” whose fame within the Home was extra for constructing bipartisan consensus than making headlines. The loudest factor about him is commonly hidden away. He’s collected a whole lot of pairs of colourful socks, and places severe thought into which pair he’ll put on on a given day.
Like his Senate predecessor, Mitt Romney, he’s been prepared at instances to interrupt with and criticize President Donald Trump. However Mr. Curtis’ much less confrontational method additionally exhibits how a lot resistance to MAGA Republicanism from the standard GOP has softened and shifted in contrast with when President Trump first received workplace.
“I view myself as anyone who has dedication to my constitutional duty – and I’m not a rubber stamp,” he says in a sitdown interview in his non permanent Senate workplace, a windowless basement warren he and his workers are utilizing till everlasting assignments are made for freshman lawmakers.
The altering face of the non-MAGA GOP
When Mr. Trump first got here to Washington in 2017, he confronted at instances overt hostility from GOP senators like John McCain, who singlehandedly torpedoed his tried Obamacare repeal. Mr. Romney launched his Senate bid shortly after Senator McCain’s dying, and shortly established himself as one other outstanding Republican prepared to defy the president.
That stage of outright resistance from Republicans is lengthy gone – Mr. Trump’s greatest GOP critics have largely fallen in line or left workplace.
However that doesn’t imply Mr. Trump received’t ever face challenges from inside his social gathering. As Senate Republicans race to verify his cupboard and transfer on to the meat of his agenda, Mr. Curtis is positioned to play an important position.
“I believe there’s rather a lot I can do to assist him. And a part of that’s, sometimes, truly disagreeing with him,” Mr. Curtis says, evaluating the GOP-controlled Senate’s position to a board of administrators trying to enhance the top product.
He says Mr. Gaetz’s withdrawal because the AG nominee exhibits he’s serving to already. That led Mr. Trump to faucet former Florida Legal professional Common Pam Bondi, who’s now on the cusp of being confirmed. “I believe the president is much better served with the second decide,” the senator says.
Mr. Curtis has come round to backing a few of Mr. Trump’s most controversial cupboard picks – after initially voicing issues about Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Protection secretary, he joined different Republicans in deciding to again him. However he’s made clear that he received’t be a pushover.
Whereas talking at a Politico breakfast panel, Mr. Curtis commented that he hadn’t but been capable of meet with Tulsi Gabbard, whose nomination to be director of nationwide intelligence seems to be in potential jeopardy.
“The most important drawback for me is, she’s been so low profile,” he stated. “The others have come to my workplace and so when you return to that analogy of a sheet of music, her sheet’s fairly clean for me. I want extra info to start out filling that in. And, look, if I can’t fill that in, I can’t vote for her.”
Ms. Gabbard’s staff bought the message: She sat down with him simply two days later. Senator Curtis later posted images of their assembly with the noncommittal comment, “I’ll fastidiously consider her {qualifications} to make sure America’s intelligence capabilities stay the most effective on the earth.”
He additionally strikes a special tone from the Trump administration on immigration – the highest situation for the brand new president, and one the place Congress could have an enormous say in how far he can go.
“Whereas deportation is a crucial device in upholding the rule of legislation, it should be wielded with a correct proportion of compassion. Mass deportation could not uphold both, in the long run,” he wrote in a Jan. 21 op-ed.
He described a second the place he met the eyes of a person being apprehended by border patrol brokers.
“I noticed in his eyes each his plight and my position in attempting to repair this human disaster,” he wrote. “No phrases have been spoken, but the look in his eyes appeared to be asking me the query, ‘How will you be letting this go on?’ He was the one in handcuffs, but I felt as if I used to be the one who had failed.”
Not Romney 2.0
Like a plurality of Utahans, Mr. Curtis is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – a church lengthy rooted in worldwide missionary work, whose members are sometimes extra welcoming of immigrant communities than different conservatives. Some Mormon Republicans, together with Mr. Romney and former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, fashioned a pocket of conservative resistance towards Mr. Trump, although that’s lessened in recent times.
Mr. Curtis says his religion shapes his method to every thing, together with politics: “It will be unimaginable to separate my religion from my actions.” However he additionally resists comparisons to his predecessor.
“If you happen to anticipate me to be Mitt Romney, I’m going to disappoint you,” he says, including, “Now, right here’s the excellent news for my constituents: I’m not an unknown…. I’ve three years the place I served concurrently with President Trump. precisely how I’m going to deal with this relationship, as a result of I’ve finished it earlier than.”
Mr. Curtis certainly has an extended observe report. A one-time registered Democrat, he joined the GOP in 2006 earlier than successful a nonpartisan election to grow to be mayor of Provo, the place he constructed a fame for fiscal conservatism paired with nonpartisan consensus-building. He ran for the Home in a 2017 particular election during which he distanced himself from Mr. Trump, successful Mr. Romney’s endorsement.
Whereas Mr. Romney was used to being the person in cost, as a former CEO, governor, and presidential nominee, Mr. Curtis has spent the final seven years in Congress quietly creating a fame for bipartisan bonhomie.
Within the Home, he based the Conservative Local weather Caucus, a working group for Republicans who acknowledge that local weather change is happening and work to develop conservative options to deal with the issue. The caucus has grown to greater than 80 members.
That type of method has endeared him to colleagues from throughout the political spectrum, like Rep. Scott Peters, who labored intently with Mr. Curtis on local weather and power points.
“One of many higher issues out of Election Day was seeing John Curtis get elected to the Senate,” the California Democrat says. “He’s a extremely reliable, clever, and terrific public servant.”
Mr. Curtis didn’t vote for Mr. Trump in 2016, and through his first time period in workplace criticized the president’s tariffs and cuts in overseas assist. Throughout Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, he referred to as his stress on Ukraine “troubling and problematic” however concluded it didn’t warrant impeachment. After the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, Mr. Curtis stated Mr. Trump’s actions have been “grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of legislation.” He voted towards impeachment then too, however filed a decision to censure the president. He later broke with most of his caucus to vote for a bipartisan committee to research the Capitol riot, although criticized the eventual model created by Democrats.
He didn’t endorse Mr. Trump within the main this time round, both, staying silent on his desire as his spouse publicly backed and campaigned for Nikki Haley. Mr. Curtis repeatedly declined to inform the Monitor whom he’d voted for in Utah’s GOP caucuses, although emphasised that he’d all the time stated he’d again whomever Republicans selected as their nominee.
Mr. Trump didn’t return the favor of staying impartial, endorsing a little-known challenger within the Utah Senate main. Mr. Curtis received anyway, 49%-33%, buoyed by a glut of out of doors advert spending on his behalf in addition to superior marketing campaign fundraising.
Cameron Joseph/The Christian Science Monitor
The place he’s going
A natty dresser, particularly by congressional requirements, Mr. Curtis has turned his penchant for vibrant socks into an ice-breaker that he says helps constituents really feel snug in approaching him. He offers colourful socks to different lawmakers on their birthdays.
Mr. Curtis has employed a handful of former Romney staffers onto his staff. However he’s additionally introduced on Boyd Matheson, a former chief of workers to Sen. Mike Lee – Utah’s conservative senior senator who has gone from being a fierce Trump critic to one among his most ardent supporters.
“Two of his biggest items are his capacity to essentially hear – I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who listens higher or extra intensely or remembers extra from the dialog – and the truth that he’s actually curious, not simply in what you imagine, however why you imagine it,” says Mr. Matheson.
Each Monday, Mr. Matheson says, Mr. Curtis blocks out “deep considering time” on his calendar – a piece of 90 minutes to 2 hours, the place he can dive into coverage and philosophy, from white papers to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Yuval Levin.
Mr. Romney says he believes Mr. Curtis will chart his personal course. However he’s assured his successor will observe his personal ethical compass on key selections throughout the Trump administration.
“He’s an unbiased and principled one who has, all through his profession, proven a capability to chop by political pressures and do what he thinks is true,” Mr. Romney says. “I’m positive I’ll disagree with among the positions he takes, and the votes he takes. That’s to be anticipated. However he’ll observe his personal conscience.”
