Trump ally appears ready to challenge Mitt Romney in Utah primary

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a strong supporter of former president Donald Trump, appears to be preparing to run for Sen. Mitt Romney's U.S. Senate seat and potentially "primary" the incumbent.

Politico reports that Reyes, elected to statewide office three times, has discussed a potential bid with Utah political heavyweights and Trump allies in recent weeks. A person who is familiar with Reyes’ plans said, “Sean is very seriously considering running, regardless if Mitt runs or not. He’s confident that regardless of what Sen. Romney wants to do, he’s going to pursue this.” Romney hasn’t announced if he plans to run for re-election.

Reyes' ties to Trump include having served as Utah co-chair his re-election campaign and joined the failed Texas lawsuit by Texas Attorney Ken Paxton and a dozen other Republican AGs that sought to overturn election results in battleground states. Prior to the election, Reyes ran digital ads on the attorney general’s office Facebook page announcing he was “standing strong with Trump.” One of them showed a photo of him pointing a handgun. He also spoke on the final day of the Republican convention in 2020.

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While Reyes is well-regarded by Utah Republicans, his standing among the rest of the state's population took a hit when he took personal leave from his state job to participate in the lawsuit. It did, however, raise his national profile.

It also attracted Trump's attention. Reyes reportedly had one-on-one meetings with the former president in September and December 2020, said the person familiar with Reyes’ plans, and each time Trump encouraged him to run against Romney.

“When he meets with Trump," the person recalled, "the only thing that comes up is ‘Will you run against Romney? I need you to run against Romney. Get that guy out,.'”