Exclusive — Trent Staggs: Utah Voters ’100 Percent’ Feel Betrayed by Sen. Mitt Romney

Riverton, Utah, Mayor and U.S. Senate candidate Trent Staggs told Breitbart News that Utah voters feel “100 percent” betrayed by Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) voting record in the U.S. Senate.

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Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle noted that Romney reportedly “spends very little time” in Utah and asked Staggs to confirm whether that is accurate.

Staggs told Boyle that many of the people he’s talked to on the campaign trail “don’t know, either, when the last time was he may have even come into the state.”

Staggs said that Romney has been absent from the past two state Republican conventions, and he was the only federal legislator not to send the convention a video message in his physical absence.

Romney’s absence from Utah is “part of the problem” for Utah voters and one of the reasons why Staggs decided to run for senate, he explained.

“The big difference between me and Mitt Romney is I’m actually from Utah. From elementary school to graduate school. I’ve attended Utah schools. I’ve raised my family here. I’ve operated several businesses, I help take the company public. I was on NASDAQ last year. And I’ve been in elected office for ten years serving my community here in Riverton, Utah, as mayor, the last six. So I just don’t see Mitt Romney here across the state and all my travels,” Staggs told Boyle.

“I think background context here. Again, he moved to the state to just run for this office. And that’s something that that Utahns definitely recognize, they recognize that, they recognize the fact that he’s not representing them, particularly Republicans that got him into office,” Staggs continued.

He then called out Romney for fighting for the “opposite” of what he pledged to fight for when he first ran for senate five years ago.

“In our launch video, that’s what I called out specifically, as he had five years ago a 30 second spot where he said, ‘I’ll fight for you. I’ll fight for Utah’s every day. I’ll put us on a path to a balanced budget. I’ll end illegal immigration. I’ll stop federal spending and overreach. And I’ll appoint conservative justices to the court.’ And he hasn’t done those things. In fact, he’s fought just for the opposite,” Staggs said. “The implementation of just the opposite with voting for justices like the Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of three Republican defectors to do that. Not supporting President Trump on his border wall when he had the chance to do it. And supporting someone like Homeland Secretary Mayorkas, one of just, I think, five Republicans to confirm his nomination. It just goes on and on with respect to the spending, to voting for trillions more in omnibus, and which is the big source of inflation today.”

Staggs also noted that Romney “votes with Biden 60 percent of the time” and that “Biden encouraged him, encouraged him to run for Senate back in 2018.”

Although Romney has not officially announced his reelection campaign, Staggs assumes he will based on “a lot of the moves he’s making here.”

Staggs then highlighted how his experience as mayor of Riverton, Utah, gives him unique experience fighting government overreach.

“And I don’t just talk the talk, I walk the walk. They’ve seen it my ten years in elected office here. I’ve pushed back against federal overreach. I say mayors are on the frontline of fighting back on overreach, whether it be federal, state, county, push back consistently, against mask mandates, vaccine mandates in our community. I’m one of the few mayors that did stand up and say no to this nonsense,” he said.

“We’ve really pushed back hard against taxes. I’ve cut taxes. My community, we lowered spending, innovated in municipal government, and really, really push back on a lot of the culture war stuff. I mean, I’ve we’ve passed resolutions opposing ESG in our community, we’ve fought against inappropriate materials in schools very, very, hard on that. I take it real personal. I’ve got a 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. So I’ve let out on those types of causes. And people know that they’re going to get somebody who will stand up and fight back. And that’s exactly what we need in D.C. We need that now more than ever,” he continued.

Staggs also called out Romney for staying silent on President Joe Biden’s corruption despite taking every opportunity to attack former President Donald Trump.

“He takes any opportunity he has to take a shot. I mean, the most recent is this indictment. He was quick to issue a statement immediately saying that President Trump, he brought this on himself, and yet he is completely silent. With respect to Joe Biden, we’re like you said, we’ve got incontrovertible proof that, that now some malfeasance has taken place,” Staggs said.

Staggs told Boyle that Utah voters “100 percent” feel betrayed by Romney’s record as a Senator and that many feel he pandered to them to secure their votes.

“I’m hearing from time and time again. This person does not represent us. I have heard the term panderer, that he just pandered back five years ago and tried to say the things that Utahns wanted to hear to get elected, and that his record is demonstrated that he’s worked to, to actually go against the things he said he would do,” Staggs said. “And that’s what they’re looking for. Utahns are looking for a true conservative, somebody who’s bold, who’s going to stand up to the establishment and address it head on. They know they’re not going to get that anymore with with Mitt Romney. They’ve not been getting it for five years. And they’re ready to move on.”

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.