Utah: Utah Republicans and Democrats will hold their virtual party conventions on Saturday, and several campaigns are counting on a strong performance to make it to the June 30 primary ballot. Not all of them will get their desired results, though, and at least some contenders for governor, U.S. House, and attorney general will see their campaigns come to an end this weekend.
First, the rules. Utah allows candidates to reach the primary ballot either by turning in the requisite number of signatures or by competing at their party conventions, though contenders have the options to try both methods. Any candidate who has handed in enough signatures will be in the primary no matter how well or poorly they do at the convention.
Utah Republicans will use a ranked-choice ballot at this year’s convention, which will take place online because of restrictions on in-person gatherings, in contests with more than two candidates. In place of the traditional speeches, delegates will be able to watch a pre-recorded video from each candidate. Voting, which will be done over an app, opened on Thursday and closes Saturday at 5 PM local time (7 PM ET), and the results will be announced sometime afterwards.
If one contender ends up taking more than 60% of the delegate vote, they will be the only candidate to reach the primary ballot. If, however, no one hits this threshold, then the two competitors left standing will advance to the primary. Utah Democrats are operating under similar rules, though Team Blue’s delegates will only be able to vote on Saturday.
The biggest race to watch this weekend will be the GOP contest to succeed retiring Gov. Gary Herbert. Businessman Jeff Burningham, former state House Speaker Greg Hughes, Salt Lake County Council chair Aimee Winder Newton, and perennial candidate Jason Christensen are only pursuing the convention route to the ballot, so if they fare poorly, their campaigns are over. Former party chair Thomas Wright, Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, and former Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman have each turned in enough signatures to reach the primary, though they’re each also taking part at the convention.
There will also be some drama in the GOP races for the 1st and 4th Congressional Districts. A total of 12 Republicans are running in the safely red 1st District to succeed retiring Rep. Rob Bishop, who is Wright's candidate for lieutenant governor, and they all are attending the convention.
However, just two of these candidates, Davis County Commissioner Bob Stevenson and Kaysville Mayor Katie Witt, turned in the requisite number of signatures to make the ballot, while election officials are still verifying businessman Blake Moore’s petitions. It’s definitely convention or bust, though, for the rest of the field, including Morgan County Councilor Tina Cannon, former Commissioner of Agriculture Kerry Gibson, and Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd.
The convention will also winnow the field in the GOP contest to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams in the 4th District. All seven Republicans are competing, but the only three who also turned in the requisite number of petitions are former radio host Jay Mcfarland; former NFL player Burgess Owens; and Trent Christensen, who served as a regional finance director for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. The four contenders who are depending on the convention are party activist Kathleen Anderson; nurse practitioner Chris Biesinger; state Rep. Kim Coleman; and businesswoman Cindy Thompson.
The final major GOP race to watch is the contest for attorney general, where none of the three candidates decided to collect signatures. Incumbent Sean Reyes faces both John Swallow, who is running to regain the office he resigned from in 2013 due to corruption charges he was later acquitted of, and Utah County Attorney David Leavitt. This has become a very nasty contest, with Swallow accusing Reyes of being part of a political “assassination” to remove him from office. Leavitt has also declared that Reyes is “shameless” for keeping large donations from an energy company whose leaders were convicted of fraud in federal court.
Things are far less eventful in any of these contests on the Democratic side. Republicans have held the governorship, the 1st District, and the attorney general’s office for decades, and that’s very unlikely to change this cycle. Over in the 4th District, McAdams should have little trouble winning his convention against a little-known challenger.