With Trump in office, Utah’s GOP legislative leaders plan to focus on public lands, energy in 2025

From left, Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, Senate President Stuart Adams, Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, and Senate Majority Whip Chris Wilson talk with reporters after Senate Republicans elected a new slate of legislative leaders during a closed caucus at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: Katie McKellar / Utah News Dispatch

Republican lawmakers elected new leadership in the Utah Senate, while keeping the status quo in the House

Written by Katie McKellar for Utah News Dispatch

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Legislature’s Republican majority met in closed caucus meetings Thursday night to elect their next set of legislative leaders — bringing a bit of a shakeup in the Senate but the same set of faces in the House.

Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, will remain the Senate’s top Republican. But Senate Republicans elected a new slate otherwise, promoting Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, (who this year served as majority assistant whip) to the second-most powerful leadership position as majority leader, a position previously held by Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City.

Senate Republicans also chose a new majority whip, electing Sen. Chris Wilson, R-Logan, in place of Sen. Ann Millner, R-Ogden. And to take Cullimore’s previous role as majority assistant whip, the Senate GOP elected Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork.

In the House, the GOP majority decided to keep the status quo, re-electing House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper; House Majority Leader Jefferson Moss, R-Saratoga Springs; House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield; and House Majority Assistant Whip Casey Snider, R-Paradise.

Schultz told reporters none of the House GOP’s leadership races were contested this year.

The two leadership teams told reporters in separate media availabilities after their closed caucus elections Tuesday night that they look forward to prioritizing a variety of topics during the Utah Legislature’s 2025 legislation session.

Those include “becoming more energy independent, strengthening water optimization and development, supporting students and teachers, protecting children from the harms of social media, making life more affordable for Utahns and investing in infrastructure projects to manage Utah’s growth,” Senate Republicans said in a news release.

The Republican legislative leaders expressed their excitement of working with a future administration under President-elect Donald Trump while also continuing their legal battle through a petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to wrest 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” public land away from the Bureau of Land Management.

Senate leadership changes

Cullimore, McKell and Wilson said they sought their new positions not out of a desire to change Senate policy decisions, but rather for an opportunity to serve in leadership positions. All three expressed respect for their predecessors.

“There were virtually no policy discussions. This wasn’t about a different policy direction or anything like that,” Cullimore said. “I think generally everybody in the Senate caucus is pretty happy about the direction that the Senate’s been going.”

McKell echoed the same. “For me it wasn’t about policy. It was just about an opportunity to serve in this capacity,” he said.

Adams praised the Senate Republican caucus, saying it had to make some hard choices but it came through “united.”

“This was a tough leadership election, but I believe we’re more united after the election than we were before,” Adams said. “At least that’s what I felt during the election process.”

McKell said the only friction that surfaced during these leadership elections was because senators were forced to choose between “two people that you really care about, that you really respect.”

“That’s where it was difficult for me. I didn’t feel like there was tension; I felt like all of the races top-to-bottom were very respectful, very professional.”

Wilson said those who ran an unsuccessful leadership bid are “still going to be highly respected members of our caucus” and “very much involved with the direction of policy going forward.”

Adams, however, said he felt “anxiety” in this leadership election because “I’m going to miss Sen. Vickers and Sen. Millner. So there’s anxiety, and yet we’ve got a great leadership team here.”

2025 priorities

In the House, Schultz said in coming months House Republicans will be working to “nail down” specific priorities for the 2025 general session that’s slated to begin Jan. 25. He said he expects lawmakers to maintain similar priorities as they’ve focused on in recent years: water (which policies are or aren’t working when it comes to conservation or development) and “working closely with the federal government to make sure Utah remains a sovereign state.”

Under a future Trump presidency, Schultz said one of the “biggest” policy shifts he expects will be on public land control. The Biden administration, he said, was “closing access to the citizens of this state and closing down recreation opportunities.”

“That’s probably one of the biggest and most important things I view as a top priority, is making sure our public lands remain public, accessible to everybody, and we’re going to fight hard to make sure that happens,” Schultz said.

However, a Trump presidency doesn’t mean Utah Republican leaders will pull back on their petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. Schultz said “regardless of the administration, that’s a petition we’re still going to move forward with.”

Snider said Utah will continue that legal fight to prevent future “yo-yoing” on federal control of public lands depending on who controls the White House. “Long term, for this to be resolved in a way that benefits all interests, we need to have legal certainty,” Snider said, “and the only way to get to that point is through that petition.”

Adams said one of his top priorities is Utah’s energy independence because, he predicted, it will become increasingly important as artificial intelligence gains prominence.

“We know that AI is going to control the world … and the country who controls AI is going to control the world, both economically and militarily,” Adams said. “And AI is dependent on data centers. Data centers depend on energy. And the rest of the country, everybody’s looking for energy, around the world.”

Adams said Utah doesn’t have a “surplus of energy,” so “energy has to be one of our top priorities.”