Sen. Mike Lee is trying to remake the Republican Party in his own image, and he’s starting in his home state.

But while Lee has long used an uncompromising approach to politics in Washington, D.C., it’s unclear how that style will translate to Utah politics.

The Beehive State’s senior senator sent shockwaves through Utah political circles when, just days before the April 27 state convention, he launched a campaign to replace 2nd District incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy with the previously unheard of Colby Jenkins.

Maloy, a Republican, won a special election in 2023 to replace Rep. Chris Stewart, her former boss, in the 2nd District. Lee’s decision came as a surprise to her. Aside from endorsing the already GOP-nominated Stewart in 2012, Lee has never wielded his national electoral influence at home in congressional primaries. Until now.

Former gubernatorial candidate Carson Jorgensen, who served as GOP chair from 2021 to 2023, said Lee’s decision was risky.

“It is a double-edged sword,” Jorgensen said. “You can be a kingmaker, but you can also weaken yourself at the same time.”

Read more about Lee's decision to endorse Jenkins.

Calling faith critical to higher education, educators launch new Commission on Faith-based Universities

Faith is more critical than ever to higher education for the same reason that values rooted in religious tradition are more critical than ever for the United States, leaders said Tuesday at the launch of a new group of religious schools.

One block from the White House at the National Press Club, the Commission on Faith-based Universities convened its inaugural conference with presidents from 35 religious affiliated institutions — Catholic, Jewish, Baptist, Latter-day Saint and more — all part of the new initiative by the American Council on Education.

One particularly heavy-hitting and religiously diverse panel included the presidents of Baylor, Brigham Young, Georgetown, Pepperdine and Yeshiva University.

“Religious schools are growing,” said one of the new commission’s inaugural co-chairs, Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its commissioner of education. “This is counter to the narrative a lot of people have. From 1980 through today ... the national average in university enrollments grew at 57% and religious schools have grown at 82%.”

Read more about the commission and what its findings mean for education.

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