From the slopes to the Senate: Democrat Caroline Gleich’s bid to replace Sen. Mitt Romney

Running for U.S. Senate might be the least surprising thing on Caroline Gleich’s resume.
At 38, Gleich’s career is a blend between professional skier, outdoor advocate, environmental lobbyist and online influencer — which has taken her from the halls of Capitol Hill to the top of the Himalayas.
In 2017, she became the first woman to ski all 90 lines of the Wasatch Mountains’ infamous “Chuting Gallery.” Now, as the Democratic nominee to replace Sen. Mitt Romney, Gleich’s eyes are set on becoming the first female Senator from Utah and the youngest woman ever elected to the Senate.
It would be an understatement to call this an uphill battle. The Beehive State hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress’ upper chamber since 1970. And recent polls show Gleich’s Republican opponent, 3rd District congressman John Curtis, with a lead of more than 30 percentage points. But this wouldn’t be the first time she was told a peak was too high for her to climb, Gleich said.
“I’ve taken on challenges where I had a low probability of success before and I’ve defied expectations,” Gleich told the combined editorial boards of Deseret News and KSL on Monday.
Despite espousing traditional Democratic talking points on top Republican issues in Utah, Gleich sees a pathway to victory on the same trail that led her to politics: disillusionment with the Republican Party and a commitment to protecting Utah’s natural beauty.
Gleich said she believes she is the candidate best prepared to help address the “climate crisis.” Over the last decade, Gleich has lobbied congressional lawmakers on “clean energy bills,” including the massive Inflation Reduction Act, with organizations like Protect Our Winters, American Alpine Club and the Sierra Club.
If elected to the Senate, Gleich told the Deseret News in a previous interview she would support phasing out federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and would support investments to overhaul the energy grid, expand public transportation and produce more electric vehicles.
“We need to accelerate our transition to clean renewable energy,” Gleich said during the editorial board meeting.
But on issues like the “border crisis” or the “debt crisis,” Gleich has said very little. Her website does not mention immigration, the border, federal deficits, national debt or inflation. The economy and immigration consistently rank as the top concerns across the country, particularly among Republicans, who make up the majority of registered voters in Utah.
In her editorial board interview, Gleich said the federal government should not be spending more than it brings in, and said she would go through the budget with a “fine tooth comb” to find places to cut. But she couldn’t name a specific spending item she would cut to balance the budget. Instead, Gleich said Congress should increase taxes on billionaires, allow Trump’s corporate tax cuts to expire and close tax loopholes to increase revenue.
To address the rising cost of living, Gleich proposed policies that she said reflected Utah’s “family values.” These include paid parental leave, universal pre-kindergarten, federal subsidies for childcare, tax breaks for elder care and regulations that prohibit companies from terminating employment contracts because an employee decides to have a child.
“Our policy platform is built on advocating for Utah families, for our freedom and for our future,” Gleich said. “And as someone living in Utah, 38 years old, that has built my career in this really untraditional way, I want more young people to be able to live the American dream that I have been able to live.”
A top Utah issue Gleich said she would prioritize in the Senate is housing. Gleich supports more tax credits for first-time homebuyers and homeowners who want to build an “Accessory Dwelling Unit” on their property. Gleich supports recent housing programs proposed by the Kamala Harris campaign that would provide $25,000 toward a downpayment for first-time homebuyers and tax credits for home builders.
As someone who started her career as a cashier at REI, Gleich says she is more in touch with the struggles of the working class than other politicians. Gleich supports a $15 federal minimum wage as well as more vigorous anti-trust policies to halt large corporate mergers that she says decrease competition, increase income inequality and hurt workers.
Gleich is staunchly pro-choice and has said she will vote against a national abortion ban. Gleich said she does not support the transfer of any public land to the state of Utah because she fears it would be sold to private organizations.
Gleich says she was inspired to run for office by Romney’s call for “a new generation of leaders” to take his place in the Senate. Utah is by far the youngest state in the nation, with a median age of around 31 years. The median age of the Senate is 65, Gleich pointed out.
This disparity means Congress is often out of touch with Utahns, particularly younger people, said Gleich, who believes the next generation of Utahns are trending toward the Democratic Party in the Trump era.
“There’s a lot of young people especially that are disillusioned with the state of politics and there’s a lot of people that are frustrated with the state of Congress,” Gleich said. “We are the leaders that we want to see. We can’t wait around for the person that we want to be the candidate. We are that person.”
A recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found that Utah voters age 18-34 are more likely to be Democrats. More than one third (34%) of this age group identified as members of the Democratic Party, compared to 22% of those age 35-49, 19% of those 50-64 and 25% of those 65 and above.
The same trend was seen in terms of political ideology, with a plurality (37%) of those age 18-34 identifying as liberal — while a plurality (31%) of those 35-49 identified as moderate, and pluralities of those age 50-64, and those 65 and above, identified as conservative.
When asked how she would expand her appeal to secure a majority in November, Gleich did not mention policy positions that could win over conservatives. Gleich criticized Curtis for voting in line with Trump 91% of the time and for having an 88% lifetime score with Heritage Action.
However, Gleich believes her love for the Utah outdoors can transcend ideological differences. Through “walks and hikes,” Gleich said she has taken steps to “mobilize the outdoor community” in Utah, “and there’s a lot of skiers that are Republicans and independents.”
“So I believe, through my network as a skier, and then through these things on the campaign trail, where we’re going and taking walks with folks, that’s one of the ways that we’re reaching out,” she said.
While getting skiers off the slopes and to the ballot box is not a traditional campaign tactic, Gleich has learned not to underestimate the power of being in the outdoors. Gleich moved to Utah at the age of 15 after her half-brother died in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon. During that time, Gleich said she struggled with depression and substance abuse, eventually ending up in rehab.
It was the thought of devoting a career to being a “professional skier and mountaineer” that “helped to save my life,” Gleich said. And now, that love for the mountains and people of Utah have drawn Gleich to pursue the highest levels of Utah politics.
If there is a political outsider that can make her dreams of “Blutah” a reality, it’s one that could climb the world’s tallest peak with a fully torn ACL, Gleich said. “Utah’s never seen a candidate quite like me.”
Gleich and Curtis will participate in a debate hosted by the Utah Debate Commission on Oct. 10. The general election is on Nov. 5.