Meet the MAGA candidate vying to replace Mitt Romney

On a rainy night in February, about 50 conservatives squeezed into a room at the Taylorsville Heritage Center to hear from several candidates running for office in Utah this year. The MAGA-friendly crowd had been organized by “rapping granny” Linda Paulson, the octogenarian great-grandmother who had earned 15 minutes of viral fame in 2022 by announcing her unsuccessful state Senate campaign with a cringy video in which she rapped her opposition to transgender athletes and critical race theory. Among the night’s headliners was Trent Staggs, the 49-year-old part-time mayor of...