Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch may have dodged a conservative primary challenge — at least from one possible opponent.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that sources say Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who has acknowledged that he is considering challenging Hatch for the GOP nomination, will announce Monday afternoon that he is not going to campaign for Hatch’s Senate seat.
Chaffetz did not immediately return a message from The Daily Caller left on his cell phone.
Chaffetz was expected to challenge Hatch from the right and was likely to benefit from the support of tea party groups — including Dick Armey’s group FreedomWorks — which have pledged to defeat Hatch.
But Chaffetz would not have been able to consolidate all conservatives against Hatch, who has earned the endorsement of a long list of conservative commentators, including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin.