Huh—this is pretty surprising.
Via Politico:
After publicly dangling the prospect for months, GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced Monday he won’t challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch next year, removing a menacing threat to the six-term senator’s reelection prospects.
The second-term Chaffetz told POLITICO he ultimately decided a costly, high-profile Senate campaign would detract from his policy goals — namely curtailing government spending and helping return the country to a fiscally sustainable path.
“I can spend the next 15 months campaigning to do Orrin Hatch’s job, or I can just do my job,” Chaffetz said. “There comes a point and a question: Do you want to spend all your time campaigning in a multimillion-dollar blood bath or do your job and be successful? Ultimately, I think that’s a path that makes the most sense for me.”
Chaffetz's decision will leave numerous Republican pols in Utah who had their eye on his House seat searching for a Plan B. Maybe some of them will look to redistricting—either running for the state's new 4th District or in the seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson. Who knows; maybe some of them might even consider taking Chaffetz's place in the Senate race.
Hatch presents such an appealing target for an upstart conservative, particularly after seeing how easily Mike Lee bounced longtime incumbent Bob Bennett through Utah's party convention system, that I have to imagine that Hatch won't escape 2012 without a serious nomination challenge. Politico mentions at least one potential candidate—state Senator Dan Liljenquist—who has said in the past that he might run if Chaffetz chose not to. Stay tuned.
(Note: An earlier version of this post relied on a now-updated Salt Lake Tribune article published prior to Chaffetz's announcement.)