Leading Off
● UT-03 On Wednesday, five-term Rep. Jason Chaffetz surprised his colleagues and other Utah Republicans when he announced that he wouldn't seek re-election, nor would he run for anything else in 2018.
Democrats in particular will be glad to see the House Oversight Committee leave D.C. Chaffetz delighted in aggressively looking into Hillary Clinton's emails, and he clearly relished the chance to do more "investigating" after the election. However, after Trump became president instead, Chaffetz showed absolutely none of the zeal he had when going after Clinton, and he has instead given Trump almost a complete pass. Instead, Chaffetz has tasked himself with doing what Trump wants and has been looking into unfavorable leaks against the new administration. However, we may not have seen the last of Chaffetz, since the congressman notably did not rule out a 2020 gubernatorial bid as he was announcing his retirement.
With Chaffetz exiting Congress, the floodgates are now likely to open for prospective GOP candidates in what has long been one of America's reddest House districts. Trump only won the overwhelmingly Mormon Provo-area 3rd District by 47-24 over conservative independent Evan McMullin, with Clinton actually coming in third at 23 percent. However, many Mormon Republicans rejected Trump despite sticking with the party downballot, and the district has backed previous GOP presidential nominees by lopsided majorities, meaning the action to succeed Chaffetz is likely going to be confined to the Republican side.
A former Republican congressional aide, McMullin himself had said in March that he was considering a run against Chaffetz, and an unnamed source close to him tells Buzzfeed that McMullin's still interested. However, it's unclear if McMullin would run as an anti-Trump Republican or remain an independent.
A few Republicans quickly expressed interest in running for this seat. State Sen. Deidre Henderson, who used to be Chaffetz's campaign manager, says she's "seriously considering a run." Provo Mayor John Curtis says that Chaffetz's decision caught him by surprise, and that he'll consider. State Rep. Dan McCay also said he was looking at "the opportunity."
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2pGetpz
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