Utah Republican seeking to replace Romney accused of falsifying endorsements, strong-arming GOP for support

A Utah Republican seeking to replace retiring GOP Sen. Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate has been deemed "one hundred percent a liar" by one state lawmaker following his claim that his campaign received endorsements from several elected officials in the state.

Earlier this year, then-Utah state House Speaker Brad Wilson, who announced his campaign for the Senate in September, released a list of more than 60 lawmakers who his campaign said endorsed Wilson in the race. Wilson's campaign also said last week that it has received endorsements from more than 50 mayors throughout the state.

However, at least a few of those endorsements were not actually given to Wilson's campaign, according to four officials whose names appeared on the lists and spoke to Fox News Digital about the situation.

Speaking anonymously about the alleged endorsement of Wilson's campaign, one lawmaker whose name was on the list said he never endorsed the Republican in his race for the Senate. Other officials confirmed to Fox Digital that their names were listed even though they didn't endorse Wilson's bid.

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The lawmaker – who requested to remain anonymous out of concern for retaliation from Wilson – said the fiasco with the campaign began this year when Wilson, whose tenure as House speaker concluded last week, called House members and pressured them to donate to him after he launched an exploratory committee to consider running for the seat.

"I think it's completely inappropriate to call around and ask for donations from members. So, I was put in a position out of the gate where it's like I say no to our current speaker of the House who still holds and wields all the power," the lawmaker said. "It's completely unacceptable and inappropriate."

The lawmaker, despite being reluctant to make contributions so early in the race, ultimately donated to Wilson's campaign and "thought that'd be the end of it."

"Then this letter comes down ... saying that I was on a list of legislators that had endorsed him. I'm like, 'Whoa, I didn't endorse Brad. I gave him money because he asked for it ... he's speaker of the House,'" the lawmaker told Fox. "I called other legislators, and they said the same thing. They felt like they were put in a tough position where they felt like they had to donate to him."

Describing it as a "he knows what he's doing type of situation," the lawmaker also told Fox that some state House members who didn't financially support Wilson ended up losing their committee assignments.

Another House member, the lawmaker said, is supporting Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs in the Senate race and ended up in an awkward situation after the representative made a small donation to Wilson and later appeared on the list, which was released in August, prior to Wilson's campaign announcement.

"It just put everyone in a really tough position, and I don't think it's right," the lawmaker said. "I'm not sure what's going to happen as we move forward here because he still technically holds a lot of power."

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"To have him be speaker and do that is just unacceptable. I mean, I'm not aware of someone who says they're going to run and calls while they're still in power and is gathering up all these bits of, you know, donations and endorsements," the lawmaker added. "Let's be real. Brad doesn't need the money. He is self-funding most of it anyways, and he has tons of it."

The alleged endorsements for Wilson's campaign, according to the lawmaker, were "an attempt" by the campaign to show strength early on in the campaign process by listing some House members' names on the list solely because they gave him a donation he solicited.

"In reality, they weren't endorsements. They were just people who were scared," the lawmaker said. "I've seen the same thing with the mayoral races or mayors around the state. They're also saying, 'I didn't endorse him, but he put my name on a list.'"

The lawmaker said the false endorsements that ended up on the list are representative of how Wilson has "run things as speaker of the House," saying that "you don't cross him" without some type of retaliation.

"One hundred percent a liar," the lawmaker added of Wilson.

In addition to the state lawmaker, three other elected officials in the state confirmed to Fox News Digital that they did not endorse Wilson's campaign and were seemingly shocked to see their names on the lists.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Wilson's campaign said, "It's sad our opponents are spending Thanksgiving agonizing over Brad's endorsement list, but the fact is Brad Wilson has over one hundred Republican endorsements from every corner of Utah, many times more than all the other candidates in the race combined."

Asked whether it was appropriate for Wilson to solicit donations during his speakership, Wilson's campaign responded, "Brad has consistently smashed fundraising records in this race because, like any strong campaign, he’s been asking his friends and allies to chip in to support his campaign."

In September, following Romney's announcement that he would not be seeking reelection to the upper chamber in 2024, Wilson told Fox News Digital that a "number of factors" played into his decision to enter the Senate race.

"One is just the overwhelming support we've had from everyone in the state — from elected officials to grassroots support. Just a lot of people encouraging us to run, whether it's been support in terms of wanting to go out and knock on doors or get supporters on board [with] financial support. I mean, that's been overwhelming," he said.

"At the end of the day, our country is not on the right path, and we all know it. People feel like Utah is on the right path, and I feel like I've got a lot and a tremendous amount to offer in terms of being able to go back to Washington, D.C., as a conservative, as a conservative fighter, and representing Utah's values back in the U.S. Senate," Wilson, a businessman and graduate of Weber State University who has represented Utah's 15th District in the State House since January 2011, added at the time.