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SALT LAKE CITY Eleven Republican candidates running to replace U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Friday theyd all like to scale back the U.S. governments spending and repeal President Barack Obamas health care law if theyre elected.

The candidates participated in two debates at an Orem high school on Friday night, with a top-tier debate involving the five candidates who polled highest among GOP delegates who will winnow the crowded field at a Saturday convention.

During the top-tier debate, the candidates made almost no mention an issue dominating Washington the widening probe into Russias election meddling, and possible ties between President Donald Trumps campaign and Russia.

One candidate, former state lawmaker Chris Herrod, referenced the investigations in his opening statement as he discussed his time teaching at universities in Ukraine in the 1990s and his familiarity with the former Soviet Union.

He called Russian President Vladimir Putin a very good chess player who has out-maneuvered the press.

We need to get over the talks of collusion and actually get to the issues at hand, Herrod said, which was met with applause.

A few candidates spoke of their admiration of Chaffetz, a Republican known for his hard-charging investigation of Democrat Hillary Clinton. When he announced his intention to resign at the end of June, citing a desire to be with his family, the pending vacancy in the heavily Republican 3rd Congressional District drew a number of lawmakers, lawyers and others who jumped at a chance to run in an open race considered a sure bet for the GOP.

The top-ranked candidates, which also included Provo Mayor John Curtis, state Sens. Deidre Henderson and Margaret Dayton, and Salt Lake City lawyer Stewart Peay, all spoke of wanting to repeal Utahs new Bears Ears National Monument or curbing the law that Obama used to declare the 1.3-million acre (5,300 square kilometers) monument in December.

Environmental groups and a coalition of tribal leaders say it gives needed protections to ancient ruins and sacred tribal lands, but many Utah Republicans consider the monument an overly broad, unnecessary layer of federal control that will hurt local economies by closing the area to new energy.

Henderson said the monument declaration was outrageous and an egregious land grab.

Dayton said the 1906 Antiquates Act, which allows presidents to declare monuments, has been abused by presidents and locked up too much land, including another southern Utah monument, the 1.9 million acre (7,700 square kilometers) Grand Staircase-Escalante.

That monument, created in 1996, closed off too much land that could have helped the local economy, including one of the countrys largest known coal reserves, Dayton said.

Peay said if he was elected, one of his first moves would be to introduce a bill giving Utah an exemption from the Antiquities Act similar to carve-outs requiring Congress to approve any new monuments in Alaska or Wyoming.

The candidates were all asked which federal programs theyd cut and gave very similar answers, describing deep cuts or the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education and reforms to Social Security.

Republicans will trim the packed field at Saturdays convention, where about 1,000 GOP delegates will settle on one candidate. That person will advance to an August primary election, where theyll compete against candidates who opted to gather voter signatures.

Curtis took both routes.

Tanner Ainge, a son of Boston Celtics general manager and former Brigham Young University basketball standout Danny Ainge, is skipping the convention but competing in the primary election. Because Tanner Ainge is skipping the delegate convention, he wasnt invited to participate in Friday nights debate.

The six lower-polling candidates who appeared in the earlier debate largely agreed on the issues and earned applause for calls to repeal Obamas health care law and balance the federal budget.

Those candidates included political activist Debbie Aldrich, state Rep. Brad Daw of Orem, lawyer Damian Kidd, defense contractor Paul Fife, Murray resident Shayne Row and Keith Kuder, an emergency roadside assistance advocate.

Utah Democrats will narrow their field of three candidates at their own convention Saturday.

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Republicans running to replace Chaffetz to debate Friday night - Daily Herald