(Photo: Gene Sweeney Jr., Associated Press)
WASHINGTON D.C. – Utah has two brand new lawmakers representing the state today. Both Mitt Romney and Ben McAdams are being sworn in, and, in a way, both of them already have targets on their backs.
On one hand, you have Mitt Romney, who knows his op-ed piece in the Washington Post caused a massive stir within members of his own party and his own family. In an interview with KSL Newsradio, Romney said he didn’t see the need to wait to make his positions clear.
“I’m not sure when the right time is to describe your perspectives and your priorities other than as you’re about to go to work in the chamber. I don’t know that two months in, or six months in or twelve months it is better than at the beginning,” Romney says.
Even though the working relationship between President Trump and Romney is off to a rocky start, Utah’s new junior senator says there will be times when the road will seem much smoother. He expects plenty of ups and downs between the two during their time in office.
Romney says, “We know that the president is going to do what he feels is right for his presidency, and I respect that. We will certainly have places of difference over the coming years.”
On the other hand, you have Ben McAdams. He’s a Democrat in a very Republican state, and some political analysts tell the Deseret News that conservative groups are already planning ways to get McAdams’ seat back.
McAdams says his main priority now is to get the federal government working again.
“It’s not a problem that, especially for those of us that are new, that we created, Republican or Democrat, but, we want to come in and get it fixed,” he says.
Would he be willing to support funding for a border wall, as the President wants? McAdams says it depends on what else is attached to that money.
“Border security is an important issue, and one we can’t neglect. I think my goal would be to get the government back open, even if it’s a short-term thing, and then try and address both border security and immigration reform,” McAdams says.
