UT-Sen: Hatch, McMullin, Huntsman, Romney considering

[Zioneer]

Surprising nobody. If Old Man Chuck can do it, why not?

Did Grassley previously promise not to run for reelection this year?

Hatch has promised to retire since he won his third term back in 1994, since that was a big part of how he defeated the Democratic incumbent. "What do you call someone who's been a Senator for 18 years? You call him home." and all that.

But he's broken his promise every single election, and after being elected, he makes the promise again and again and again. And we're fool enough to believe him.

[Zioneer]

Also, I don't know much about McMullin running, but I'm hearing that Jon Huntsman might run as an independent. And there's some random progressive activist already running on the Democratic side.

[Zioneer]

Why would Huntsman run as an independent? Didn't he endorse Trump?

That's been the rumor so far. No indication of Huntsman running as a Republican.

[Zioneer]

Call me an "ageist" if you like, but 84 is too damn old to run for such an demanding and important office that has a six year term. Hatch needs to pack it in.

This is also true, yeah. We don't need another Strom Thurmond or Daniel Inouye.

[Zioneer]

I would not mind a Senator McMullin personally. I am more tolerant of Republicans if they are LDS. Mainly because they practice what they preach. They actually help the poor in their church, and unlike most Republican states, Utah's economy is solid.

As I said on IRC, there is a very narrow but plausible path for the Democrats to win the Senate seat in Utah in 2018. But it is unlikely.

1) Trump must remain unpopular with Mormons. He enters office as very unpopular and won the state with less than half the vote by a margin!

2) Democrats must recruit Ben McAdams or long shot Jim Matheson to run.

3) There must be at least a viable third party candidate

4) The Democratic candidate would have to find a way to unite the 2016 McMullin and Clinton supporters together as an Anti Trump.

Remember Trumps unpopularity in Utah is real. He only won it because 1) It is a Republican State and 2) Hillary Clinton is very unpopular also.

Also remember, Midterms have different dynamics and often have surprising results.

I am not saying the above situation is likely to happen, but it could. That being said, if McAdams is successful in winning that Senate Contest, he would likely be a one termer. But he would have nothing to lose by running in 2018. Win or Lose, he would still be Salt Lake County Mayor.
So please, McMullin run as an independent and please McAdams run for Utah Senate! ha ha ha.

I disagree with one part I think Matheson might be the better D canidate than McAdams because he seems to have a natch for winning races in Utah that people thought was safe R

I think Matheson is more long-shot because of his lobbyist job, rather than being less likely to win. He's more likely to stay out of the race altogether.

[Zioneer]

Why the Hatch hate?

Other than breaking his promise to retire every six years, he defended a literal drug-running bank, he's a hardliner on insane copyright laws, and is just all in all a useless deadweight. I can't name a single piece of legislation from him that became law (the Hatch Act was not his namesake), and he doesn't have any overriding interest that I could see justifying his continued service in the Senate.

Also, Hatch gets tons of shady donations from the pharmaceutical industry and his son is a lobbyist who very obviously lobbies his dad.

We can do better than a guy who is staying in office just because he can.

[Zioneer]

People need to get over Matheson. He's a lobbyist shill now (or that's how he'll be seen by many) and we've seen several times in the recent past that when you spin the revolving door of cash and politics and enter on the latter side, you lose.

Yes, I agree with you and Zioneer on this.

Matheson is over. It is a big if, but governor might be possible for in 2020 if he wants. But I really do not think he wants to campaign again. It is tiring to do that every two years when nearly 2/3 of your district is not your party.

McAdams has the best chance to win statewide.

Agreed on all counts. I doubt Matheson will run again when lobbying is much easier and profitable, and you don't have to run in a district gerrymandered against you... twice.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams has the best chance to win either statewide or for a Congressional seat (specifically UT-04), and I think he'll run for governor in 2020.