Utah Could Replace Mittens Romney With A Climate Activist Ski Mountaineer Influencer

Well, *it could*.

Screenshot from Caroline Gleich’s

The race to replace Willard Mittensworth Romney, who’s retiring from the Senate when his term ends, isn’t exactly close. Barring any shocking revelations involving Ess-Ee-Ex or a secret history of drinking caffeinated beverages, Republican nominee John Curtis, currently a member of the US House, is headed for an easy win, because of that R after his name on the ballot. The last time Utah elected a Democrat to the Senate was 1977, and The Hill’s forecast gives Curtis a 99 percent chance of winning this fall. Not that that’ll be his margin of victory, though, because there is very much a Democrat in the race: Caroline Gleich (rhymes with “like”), a ski mountaineer, climate activist, and professional social media influencer who makes a living skiing down big damn mountains and getting sponsorships to do so. She appears to be the first influencer person to run for Congress, but probably won’t be the last, because of how the youngs consume media these days.

As Vox explains,

Gleich, 38, is known to her more than 220,000 Instagram followers for both her climate activism and her mountain-climbing adventures, which have taken her through ski slopes in Argentina to the summit of Mount Everest. Her campaign for Senate began after taking a training course by a state-level organization devoted to helping more Utah women run for office.

And what the hell, when she was contacted by a campaign management outfit to see if she wanted to run for Senate, she figured she was up to taking on another mountain. Gleich’s introductory campaign ad has fun with the idea that she doesn’t look like the average US Senator, and that’s a good thing:

We certainly like Gleich’s messaging, which focuses not only on climate, but on the very real benefits we’ll all experience from getting rid of fossil fuels as we fight global warming:

University of Utah political science prof Juliet Carlisle explained to Vox that even if the outcome isn’t in a lot of doubt, there’s a hell of a lot of value in a campaign by a young candidate who can call attention to what younger voters want, which may be very different from what the dominant party wants:

“Sometimes even if they’re going to lose, having a candidate to demonstrate to the opposition party that they also have to listen to their preferences [is important]. The influence of a young Democratic candidate can make [Curtis] aware of what the vibe in Utah politics is among the younger generation.”

And that’s also how you start the process of applying a demographic crowbar to a state with a political establishment that’s been in power for ages. That’s what the Idaho Democrats are doing, putting up a candidate for every single seat in the state Legislature for the first time in years. That’s what Dakota Adams, the progressive son of awful “Oath Keepers” militia founder Stewart Rhodes is doing in his campaign for a seat in the Montana Lege. And eventually, the leverage makes a difference.

Heck, we remember back in 2010 when whippersnapper Mike Lee seemingly came out of nowhere to beat incumbent GOP Sen. Bob Bennett, an awful traditional conservative, by being an awful Tea Party Republican instead. Wonkette oldtimers may remember that was one of many precursors to the stupid-ass Tea Party Wave of 2010, and the seizure of the GOP by freaky idiots.

On the issues, Gleich ticks all the boxes that younger, progressive voters would want, noting that housing costs in Utah are among the highest in the country (she supports incentives for first-time home buyers, a Biden proposal). She’s for raising the minimum wage, curbing corporate greed, paying teachers what they’re worth, and expanding affordable childcare. And she unapologetically supports reproductive freedom, including protecting the rights to contraception and IVF, as well as codifying Roe v. Wade into law. Again, not necessarily popular positions in a state that’s as red overall as Utah, but getting the issues into a Senate race signals to younger voters that if they want to, they could help their state join the current century.

On climate, Gleich is a strong supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act, although her campaign site doesn’t mention Joe Biden because she does know that she’s in Utah. She favors phasing out federal subsidies for fossil fuels and big investments in expanding and modernizing the electric grid.

Climate is also supposedly a top issue for her Republican opponent, John Curtis, who in 2021 founded the “Conservative Climate Caucus” to send the message that Republicans do too care about the climate crisis, as long as it’s addressed primarily by market forces, without a lot of government spending or regulation (but incentives for nuclear would be great!), and promotion of carbon capture as long as it’s not mandatory.

As the Deseret News points out, Curtis has indeed “led Republican delegations to the United Nations climate conference, hosted multiple climate summits in the state and championed nuclear energy innovation.” But much of his attention to climate issues is aimed at changing how conservatives talk about climate, so they can say “Message: I care” while also supporting fossil fuels, just not as loudly.

Curtis says he doesn’t want to “demonize” fossil fuels, and pushes fossil gas and even coal — the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel — as part of the “solution” to the climate crisis, because heavens you wouldn’t want to restrict anyone’s choices when it comes to energy. (Curtis supports abortion restrictions, but in 2022 notoriously said he wished more women were in state legislatures so women could have the “choice” to ban abortion instead of men.)

Gleich likes to point out that Curtis, for all his feel-good talk about climate, is among the top recipients of contributions from oil and gas companies and from electric utilities. This makes plenty of sense, since they’re all big on greenwashing too.

You can see why we’re pulling for Gleich to make a good showing against Curtis, even though he remains a safe bet to take the Senate seat. Folks in Utah need to know there’s an alternative to business as usual.

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[Vox / WaPo / Caroline Gleich for Senate / Deseret News]

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