Democratic nominee Caroline Gleich conceded defeat to Rep. John Curtis in the race to replace Mitt Romney as Utah’s junior U.S. senator Tuesday night.
Voters were still in line outside of polling places, kept open by delays at multiple locations, when Gleich sent a concession statement to reporters and national news outlets declaring Curtis, a three-term congressman, the victor in the race.
As the first of Utah’s results were published 2½ hours after polls closed at 8 p.m., Curtis held a 27-percentage-point lead.
As of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Curtis had secured 63% of the votes, according to unofficial returns, while Gleich had 32%. Ballots will continue to be counted in coming days, and state officials are scheduled to certify results Nov. 25.
“I’m incredibly proud of the campaign we’ve run. While the result was not what we had hoped, we focused on critical issues: climate action, public lands and reproductive freedom,” Gleich, a professional ski mountaineer and climate activist, said in a statement Tuesday night.
Flanked by his family, Curtis thanked his supporters and pledged to work with senators from both parties.
“Tonight is not the end, it’s just the end of the beginning,” he said. “It’s been said that unity cannot be a slogan. We must make it a national imperative. ... Together, we will make Washington more like Utah, and America more like our kids need it to be.”
Curtis, who during his time in Congress founded the Conservative Climate Caucus, emerged from a large field of Republicans wanting to take Romney’s seat to win the June primary election and the GOP’s nomination. Ahead of that win, former President Donald Trump endorsed Curtis’ opponent.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) John Curtis embraces his wife Sue during his victory speech at his election night party in Provo on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
The former Provo mayor celebrated his victory at the city’s recreation center. Curtis, who cast his vote for Trump, said he expects the former president, if elected, would repeal Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
The incoming senator said he is “very seriously considering” pursuing a role on several Senate committees: Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science and Transportation; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Gleich faced little opposition for the Democratic nomination and secured her spot on the general election ballot at the party’s state convention this spring.
While Gleich raised over a million dollars toward her campaign, which is a big lift for Democrats in deep-red Utah, Curtis collected nearly quintuple the amount, according to filings with the Federal Elections Commission. Most of Curtis’ money, however, was spent on the GOP primary.
“It’s clear that our state is ready for leaders that are leading with love, not hate, with honesty and integrity, not lies,” Gleich told her supporters Tuesday night. “We’re going to keep showing up. We’re going to keep speaking up. We’re going to make sure we take this moment and make it a movement.”
Ads for both Curtis and Gleich discussed their views for the future of Utah’s open lands — Curtis saying he wants more land transferred from federal to state hands, and Gleich emphasizing the need for protection of those lands. While Curtis has worked to show that there can be a conservative approach to combatting climate woes, prominent conservation groups — including one with which Gleich has worked — have opposed his policy proposals.
Reproductive health has also been a point of disagreement for the two candidates.
Curtis lauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which placed abortion policymaking entirely in the hands of states. It has resulted in bans and restrictions in dozens of states — including Utah, where abortion is prohibited after 18 weeks while a near-total ban is weighed by the courts.
“I believe that that’s where it needs to be,” Curtis said in an October debate. “I also think that’s where we’re going to have the most thoughtful conversations about how to deal with this.”
On social media, Gleich has shared her decision to freeze her eggs, and what the process was like. She also has openly worried about how an abortion ban could impact the possibility of her having children using those eggs in the future.
In her most-viewed campaign ad, fathers read letters from their daughters asking them “to consider a different type of senator this year — one who will fight for me as much as you would.”
