Rep. Chris Stewart hints at his next move
Rep. Chris Stewart, who will resign from his seat in Congress on Sept. 15, spoke Friday about his plans after his retirement.
Stewart made the difficult decision to resign from his 2nd Congressional District seat mid-term because of his wife’s health, after she had a stroke last year.
Stewart was asked “what’s next,” by Rep. John Curtis, a fellow Utah Republican congressman, at a climate summit at Utah Valley University Friday.
“That’s a good question, I hope we find the answer to that,” Stewart replied, jokingly.
Typically when a member of Congress resigns, they have time to think through their next move before leaving their seat, “but we didn’t have that process,” he said.
“And so I really wondered what I was going to do next. Also — a personal moment if you will — I was actually praying about this and saying ‘Look, I’ve spent my entire life in national security and military and working on intelligence and defense and just learning things about leadership and people,’ and I said, ‘How could I not use those lessons that I’ve learned,’” he said.
Stewart, a former Air Force officer who flew both rescue helicopters and the B-1 bomber for 14 years, said he felt like a pathway opened up.
“Robert O’Brien, who many of you will recognize, the former national security adviser (under President Donald Trump), he and I are going to start an organization together and a couple of other things have come up, where I’ll be able to continue to work in the area of intelligence and international relations and it will be really satisfying, but I won’t be gone all the time.”
Celeste Maloy, who Stewart endorsed, won the Republican special primary this week and will be the GOP nominee on the November general election ballot.
