2018 Utah Senate - Romney vs. Wilson
| pollster | date | Romney (R) | Wilson (D) | spread |
|---|
Final Results: Romney +31.7
RCP Ranking: Safe GOP
Key 2018 Races: Senate | UT-4
----------PAST KEY RACES----------
2016: President | Senate | Governor
2012: President | Governor | UT-4
2010: Governor | Senate | UT-2
2008: President
2006: Senate | UT-1 | UT-2 | UT-3
2004: President | Gov | Sen | UT-1 | UT-2 | UT-3
9/13/18 -- Orrin Hatch is retiring and Mitt Romney is the nominee. Unsurprisingly, he looks set to hold the seat for the GOP.
----------Race Preview----------
Utah is best known as the homeland of the Mormon religion. For years the state leaned Democratic, but as the culture wars heated up it began to shift toward the Republicans. The state hasn't elected a Democratic senator since the 1970s, and all of the Republicans elected have been varying degrees of conservative. Of course, in a place like Utah those varying degrees matter; in 2010 Sen. Bob Bennett lost his seat -- for being too much of a moderate -- to Tea Party favorite Mike Lee.
It remains an open question whether Sen. Orrin Hatch, first elected in 1976, will try to run for a seventh term. If he does, his age and lengthy tenure in Washington could become an issue, in a state where Democrats are unpopular but so is president Trump. If he doesn’t, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would probably put up a strong defense of the seat.
