Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT), who was defeated for renomination at his state Republican convention nearly two weeks ago, has announced that he will not try to hold on to office through a write-in campaign.
“I will not run a write-in campaign for the Senate race in Utah,” said Bennett, who was successfully targeted for defeat at his party convention by the Club For Growth and the Tea Party movement, due to his having voted for the TARP bailout and having worked on a health care reform proposal with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Bennett was first elected to the Senate in 1992, and has served for three terms. When he lost at the state GOP convention earlier this month, Bennett became the first incumbent Senator to lose re-election in the 2010 cycle, followed this week by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in his Democratic primary. The eventual Republican nominee in this deep-red state will be determined in a June 22 primary between attorney Mike Lee and businessman Tim Bridgewater, who both defeated Bennett for spots on the ballot under the Utah convention process.
