Mayor of Riverton, Utah, and Senate Republican candidate Trent Staggs said on Breitbart News Saturday that electing another conservative in the Beehive State is key to preventing another Mitch “McConnell 2.0” as the next Senate Republican leader.
McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in American history, announced this week that he will step down from his leadership role in November, granting conservatives an opportunity to have one of their own lead the Senate Republican Conference:
Although Senate Republicans are vying to retake Congress’s top chamber this fall, conservatives also want someone who will represent their interests when combatting President Joe Biden and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) agenda.
Staggs told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle he believes that electing a conservative in Utah would empower the conservative insurgency in Congress’s upper chamber. He also believes that electing a Republican in Utah could help retake the Senate GOP majority.
Trent Staggs speaking with attendees at the 2023 Turning Point Action Conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida (Gage Skidmore/Flickr).
Utah’s caucus system starts on March 5.
“This could very well be the deciding factor in getting the majority back because I view this as a flip, with Mitt Romney voting 60-plus percent with Biden, claiming yet again he would support Biden over President Trump. That is just unbelievable to me. It’s disgraceful that he has been representing our state, for him to comment on things like that,” he explained to Boyle.
He said that it would help ensure that not another “McConnell 2.0” would become the next GOP leader of the Senate.
Staggs said, “I think I can come in and create what I’ve been saying is a ‘critical mass’ to flip the scale [of the Senate] and ensure that we don’t just get another McConnell 2.0 and another Romney 2.0 in this seat or leadership.”
Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. Eastern.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.