The dominating topic in the special election to fill Utah’s vacant congressional seat is the same that has overwhelmed all political discussion for the past year: President Donald Trump.
His name has come up at every forum. His rhetoric has been disputed by each candidate. And his agenda has been carefully dissected.
It’s a likely prelude to the midterm contests to come in 2018.
The issue yet again defined a Tuesday debate — the final one before the Nov. 7 election to replace former Rep. Jason Chaffetz — after Provo Mayor John Curtis, the Republican contender and front-runner, skirted any mention of the president in responding to a question about whether he agrees with the administration on climate change.
“Every single individual bears the burden of clean air,” he replied.
The new United Utah Party’s Jim Bennett, who was a Republican but left when Trump was nominated in the 2016 presidential race, didn’t accept that answer.
“I think it’s telling that we’re almost halfway through this debate,” he said, “and my Republican opponent still hasn’t said the president’s name.”
Curtis replied with a grin. “Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump,” he sang.
The audience of roughly 40 people at the Salt Lake City Rotary Club laughed at the answer.
The candidates were also asked whether they would vote to impeach Trump, were it to become apparent that he obstructed justice or colluded with Russia during his campaign. Democrat Kathie Allen said were such allegations to be proven, “impeaching this president would be one of the proudest moments of my life.”
Bennett and Curtis said they, too, would vote for Trump’s removal from office if the situation demanded it and the charges were substantiated.
Curtis has faced by far the most pushback during the campaign for his reaction to the president and his policies. The mayor has maintained that he supports the Trump agenda on economics, taxes and defense, and that he ignores the president’s “distractions.”
“A lot of people are wanting me to be Trump-like, and I’m not going to be. I’m just not,” he said Tuesday.
Although he wrote in a “good friend’s name” instead of voting for Trump last year, Curtis has used the president’s slogans, such as “drain the swamp,” in campaign advertising and removed a post on Facebook exhorting Congress to “build the wall” (Trump’s oft-touted answer to illegal immigration).