January 18, 2024 - Utah Rep. John Curtis won’t be serving in the House next year, whether the Utah Republican wins his race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Mitt Romney or not, so he’s already putting together a succession plan for who will next lead the House Conservative Climate Caucus.

On Wednesday, the congressman will formally announce the addition of five Republican “vice chairs” to bolster the leadership of the caucus he founded nearly 2 ½ years ago: Reps. Buddy Carter of Georgia, Greg Murphy of North Carolina, Tim Walberg of Michigan, Jennifer Kiggans of Virginia and Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon.

They’ll join Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who has been the sole vice chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus since last January.

Curtis said he has always been mindful about the need to build the bench of Conservative Climate Caucus leadership. It comes as deep divisions remain within the GOP on global warming.

“I think if you asked those who have been remotely involved in this with me, I have for years — for as long as I’ve been doing it — been talking about succession and that, if we wildly succeed in everything else and fail at succession, that is a huge problem," Curtis said in a recent interview.