Utah Rep. Chris Stewart (R) is set to make Speaker McCarthy’s perilous majority slightly smaller.
News broke Tuesday night the six-term congressman was expected to announce his resignation as early as Wednesday. Stewart is expected to leave Congress before the year’s end to help with his wife’s ongoing health issues.
Multiple sources confirmed Stewart’s intentions to The Salt Lake Tribune. It’s unclear what his wife’s health issues are.
When it comes, Stewart’s resignation will leave Utah’s heavily Republican 2nd Congressional District (parts of Salt Lake City, Saint George and Tooele) temporarily vacant and reduce the GOP majority in the House to four seats.
His resignation will also leave the GOP one member short on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees.
Fox News further reports:
Utah law states that the governor must call for a special election in the event of a House vacancy. Once Stewart makes his resignation official, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will have seven days to set the time for a primary and special election. The law requires those dates to be the same as municipal primary and general elections scheduled for this year, unless the state legislature appropriates funds to hold a separate election.
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However, until a special election happens, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will have even less room for error when whipping votes. Assuming united Democratic opposition, McCarthy can only afford to lose three Republican votes on any given legislation. Intra-party fighting between hard-line conservatives and moderates already threatened to tank a Republican border security bill this year, and current GOP disagreements on the debt ceiling deal demonstrate plenty of Republican lawmakers are willing to buck the party line.
Stewart’s retirement would also reshape Utah politics, as he was widely believed to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah., or the governor’s mansion. His wife’s illness would put those plans on hold, creating opportunities for other ambitious Republicans.
Stewart, a U.S. Air Force veteran and author, was first elected in 2012 and collaborated with Utah’s Elizabeth Smart on a memoir about her kidnapping. The 62-year-old Stewart was raised as a potential nominee for U.S. director of national intelligence during former President Trump’s administration. Little is known about Stewart’s wife’s health.
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