A growing divide between MAGA and traditional Republicans is playing out in Utah, a state known for its comity and Mormon genteelism, as its two GOP senators stake out opposing sides of a fight over the filibuster.

Sen. Mike Lee wants the Senate to revert to a “talking filibuster” to pass the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. His Utah colleague, Sen. John Curtis, falls in a camp of Republicans who view the strategy, which sidesteps the 60 votes needed for most legislation, as a slippery slope.

Democrats could still hold up the legislation for days, or even weeks, with a marathon of floor speeches, but Republicans would eventually be able to pass the bill with a simple majority vote, a move Curtis says defies the spirit of the filibuster as it functions today.

He listened to a presentation Lee delivered at a Tuesday policy lunch on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act and is a cosponsor of the legislation, like almost every other Senate Republican, but told the Washington Examiner that he is unwilling to weaken the filibuster to pass it.

“To me, that’s no different than ending the filibuster,” Curtis said. “So, it’s a nonstarter for me.”

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Sen. Lee, and certainly listen to all points, but I just have a strong philosophical support of the filibuster,” he said.

The disagreement is the latest between Lee and Curtis, who despite representing the same state have taken different approaches to everything from President Donald Trump’s saber-rattling over Greenland to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Most recently, Curtis voted to fund most of the government even as Lee voted “no” over its earmarks.

The disagreement is also a microcosm of the debate playing out between Trump’s MAGA allies, who want to pass his agenda at all costs, and more institutionalist members focused on preserving the chamber’s rules and traditions.

A majority of Senate Republicans still support the filibuster and believe it benefits them disproportionately when they are in the minority. But House rebels, egged on by Trump, have joined forces with Lee to paint the filibuster as an obstacle to secure elections, mounting a pressure campaign that has the backing of House GOP leadership.

Senate Republicans used a half-day retreat to again discuss the talking filibuster Wednesday, the same day the House is voting on a revised version of the SAVE Act that also incorporates a photo ID requirement.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and others who want to see the filibuster preserved argue that Lee’s workaround would consume weeks of floor time and, due to the way debate is structured, inadvertently give Democrats the ability to force politically risky votes.

But Lee’s reasoning is that the Senate has always been cumbersome to navigate and that the modern filibuster and its 60-vote threshold would still be used out of convenience for most legislation.

“My point is, nothing in the Senate’s an easy move. This one’s certainly not,” Lee said of the SAVE Act. “But if we want to do this, this is how we have to go about it.”

Curtis enjoys a cordial relationship with Lee and has worked with him on land use and other matters important to the Utah delegation since his election to the Senate in 2024. They loosely represent two wings of the party, however, with Curtis embracing traditional conservatism and Lee more readily aligning himself with the president.

Lee, though he has long been a thorn in the side of leadership, once fit more neatly in Curtis’s camp, and was even publicly on the fence about weakening the filibuster when Trump rekindled the debate last year.

But he has shifted right since Trump’s election to a second term, giving the president more flexibility on war powers, one of his signature issues, and supporting the White House at times when Curtis has registered muted criticism.

Curtis has been careful to avoid comparisons to his predecessor, Trump critic Mitt Romney, and has been a reliable vote for the president, but he has, at times, pushed back on the White House, rebuffing the idea of a military invasion of Greenland and criticizing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s “premature” comments on the fatal shooting of Pretti by immigration agents last month.