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SALT LAKE CITY — Trent Staggs added to his growing list of national endorsements Thursday as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul backed the Riverton Republican's campaign for Senate.
Paul, a well-known Republican who was elected during the tea party wave in 2010 along with Utah Sen. Mike Lee, compared Staggs to Lee in a pair of social media posts touting his candidacy Thursday.
"Time to get @BasedMikeLee and the Senate some more help!" Paul posted, tagging Lee's personal handle on X.
"We need someone who will stand with myself and Mike Lee defending the Constitution," he said in a subsequent post. "We need a Republican who will stand against reckless spending and endless war. I enthusiastically endorse Trent Staggs because he is that type of Republican."
Lee has yet to endorse anyone in the race for who serves alongside him in the Senate by filling the seat currently held by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
"Honored to have the support of Senator Paul," Staggs told KSL.com through a spokesman. "He's been a champion of individual liberty and I look forward to joining him in taking on big government."
It's not the first Utah endorsement Paul has issued this election cycle. He is also backing Colby Jenkins, who is running to unseat Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, in the state's 2nd Congressional District. Lee also issued a surprise endorsement of Jenkins and has been outspoken on social media in his attempt to defeat Maloy, who was first elected last fall.
Staggs — who styles himself an "America first" Republican, adopting the slogan coined by former President Woodrow Wilson and repopularized by former President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign — has drawn significant attention from national Republican figures, particularly those aligned with Trump. The former president himself threw his support behind Staggs ahead of the state GOP nominating convention last month, helping Staggs win nearly 70% of the delegate vote.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, and Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth group Turning Point USA, have stumped for Staggs at campaign events in Utah.
Although he won the majority of delegates at the convention, Staggs faces a four-person primary as Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, former Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson and entrepreneur Jason Walton qualified by collecting signatures.
The primary election is June 25.
