Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who effectively won his Senate seat when he defeated incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett for the Republican nomination, now says he won’t take any position in the next GOP Senate contest in Utah — where his senior Senator, Orrin Hatch will likely face a primary challenge of his own.
It is widely expected that Hatch will face a stiff challenge from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, already leading in recent polls . Hatch has recently gone out of his way to impress the Tea Partiers, most notably appearing at the Tea Party Express town hall in Washington this week. TPMDC’s own Evan McMorris-Santoro asked Lee at that event whether he would endorse Hatch — and got no answer.
Lee appeared this morning on The Daily Rundown on MSNBC, where Chuck Todd asked him: “Senator Lee, does your colleague in Utah, Senator Orrin Hatch, deserve re-election?”
“Well, Senator Hatch is someone that I’ve known for a long time,” said Lee. “He’s a good friend, and he’s been a good colleague to me, as he’s helped introduce me to the Senate. I wish him well as he looks toward 2012.”
“But you didn’t answer the question,” Todd responded. “Does he deserve to be re-elected?”
“That’s not up to me,” said Lee. “That’s up to the voters of Utah, and they’ll make that decision once we get into 2012.”
Upon further questioning, Lee said that he could endorse Hatch — if he wins the Republican nomination. But would Lee make an endorsement in that contest, Todd asked?
“It’s not my intention to support any candidate, until the democratic process has had a chance to play itself out in Utah,” said Lee. “I think that’s the way it ought to operate.”
In order to win a party nomination in Utah, candidates must compete at the state party convention, in which it is possible to win the nomination outright with a 60% vote of delegates. Otherwise, the top-two finishers head to a runoff. See here for more on the rules, and for the moment when Bennett was eliminated in 2010.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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