A top Utah Republican lawmaker is exploring the possibility of scoring a U.S. Senate run for the seat held by Sen. Mitt Romney.
Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson announced Thursday that he is launching an exploratory committee to consider running for Senate, as Romney has not said if he is running for re-election.
"I’ve really loved the opportunity that we’ve had to keep government small and out of people’s lives, it’s part of why Utah is so special," Wilson said of his time in public office.
He continued, "I really believe that what Washington needs is to be a lot more like Utah. We’ve got this amazing opportunity to send Utah values back to D.C., and to have a conservative fighter back there, doing things back there the way we do them here in the Beehive State."
Wilson did not address whether he has talked to Romney about his possible challenge. Romney filed FEC paperwork this week in a possible first step toward running for re-election, but his chief of staff told local media that he has not made a final decision.
"I’ve been in elected office for a while. And one thing that I know is these offices don’t belong to any of us individually, they belong to the people that elect us," Wilson said.
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Wilson added, "And so my decision is going to be based on what I hear from people, what I believe is in the best interest of the state of Utah, and what is, quite frankly, in the best interest of my family."
Romney has gone on the record saying that if he runs, he has no doubt he would be successfully re-elected. He defeated Democrat Jenny Wilson with more than 62% of the vote in 2018.
"I'm convinced that if I run, I win. But that's a decision I'll make," Romney said of a potential re-election bid.
Romney was the GOP nominee in the 2012 presidential election and was defeated by former President Obama.
Fox News' Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
