A personal crisis put Mark Shurtleff's political aspirations on hold, as the attorney general abandoned his bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Wednesday to help care for a troubled daughter.

"The Senate race has to give. My family has to come first. My daughter has to come first," Shurtleff said.

The departure of the strongest challenger to U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett unexpectedly jolted the GOP Senate field and created an opening in the still-fluid race that may be seized by any of several potential candidates.

"I do think there will be some others who will take a look at it," said Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen, naming Rep. Jason Chaffetz, attorney Mike Lee and businessman Fred Lampropoulos as possible challengers. "They'll have to make that decision whether they get into it and there will probably be a number of others."

Shurtleff abruptly announced he was dropping out of the race on Wednesday, saying his 17-year-old adopted daughter, Danielle, was dealing with mental health issues and needed family support.

His daughter had twice attempted suicide, but received help, returned to school and her grades were good. But Shurtleff said she had fallen into trouble and "frankly she started to spiral out of control in a whole lot of self-destructive ways."

She has been in a residential treatment facility for five weeks, but Shurtleff said her treatment was going to require more time and support

from her family. After June, when she turns 18, she can no longer be kept at the facility but won't be finished with the treatment, he said.

"It really required so much more than I anticipated to the point where I realized I can't do it all," he said.

He will continue his job as attorney general, with his term running through 2012. He is leaving his future plans open, but said he has decided not to run against Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson, although that campaign would probably not get underway for several months. He had spoken with several close advisors about the prospect but after discussing it with his family opted not to run.

It is likely, however, that there will be Republicans who step into the void created by Shurtleff's departure from the Senate race.

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz says he is focused on serving in Congress, but hasn't ruled out a Senate bid.

"I'm flattered people even mention [a possible Senate run]... Right now, I'm totally focused on the House. I like it," Chaffetz said. "I think I'm being effective, but I haven't totally closed that door yet."

Lee, who was Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s general counsel and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, has been giving a series of lectures on the Constitution to conservative groups around the state and has been contemplating a Senate bid. He declined comment Wednesday.

Lampropoulos is the multi-millionaire founder of Merit Medical, which manufactures medical devices, and unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2004. He said Wednesday that he has received calls from people encouraging him to run, has the support of his wife and would likely make a decision soon.

"I think there are a lot of issues facing this country and it takes serious people to address those issues," he said. "This is a big decision... [But] there's not a lot of time and it's going to be sooner rather than later" that he would decide.

Three Republican candidates are already in the race: Cherilyn Eagar, James Russell Williams and Tim Bridgewater, who joined the race officially last week. Businessman and state liquor commissioner Sam Granato is the only Democrat in the field.

Eagar, who has been in the race for weeks, said, "I hope we don't see a flurry of new candidates because it's not musical chairs."

Bennett, who is a three-term senator, is facing an uprising from the party's conservative wing who object to his support for the first round of bank bailouts and his co-sponsorship of a sweeping bipartisan health reform plan.

"Mark Shurtleff clearly has his priorities straight putting his family first," Bennett said in a statement. "I am distressed to hear this new information about Mark's daughter and wish him and his family the very best as they work through this challenge."

 

Shurtleff had raised just $210,000 for his Senate campaign and had spent $63,805 while Bennett had already raised more than $2.7 million and spent more than $1.8 million in his re-election bid. Shurtleff will have to return much of the money that was raised to be spent during a future primary and general election campaign.

On his personal financial disclosure, Shurtleff listed between $50,000 and $130,000 in outstanding medical bills. Some of that was a result of a motorcycle accident in 2007 that nearly cost him his leg, but the bulk of it was related to the treatment of his daughter's mental illness.

Cathy McKitrick and Thomas Burr contributed to this story.