The Utah Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all four of Utah's

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

seats, both

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

seats, the

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, and has supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature.

History

The state of Utah politics was reorganized after the 1890 Manifesto led by Wilford Woodruff. The 1890 Manifesto officially ended the traditionally Mormon practice of Polygamy. Many prominent polygamist Mormons were imprisoned, punished and harassed since the 1890 Manifesto prohibited plural marriage. This action granted the

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state. ...

statehood in 1896 on the condition that polygamy was banned in the state constitution. The Republican

Frank J. Cannon Frank Jenne Cannon (January 25, 1859July 25, 1933) was the first United States Senator from Utah, who served from 1896 to 1899. Early life Born in Salt Lake City, Cannon was the eldest child of Sarah Jenne Cannon and George Q. Cannon. His fathe ...

was the first delegate elected to congress by the state of Utah in 1894. Although Utah was generally considered a Democratic-leaning area (or an area that would lean Democratic) before statehood, the state of Utah rapidly gained overwhelming support for the Republican Party after

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...

. Although the Republican Party had been strongly opposed to polygamy since its inception and had played a major part in abolishing polygamy, the Republican U.S. Senator

Reed Smoot Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862February 9, 1941) was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). First elected by the Utah State Legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1902, he served ...

rose to political power. Smoot led a political alliance of Mormons and non-Mormons that created a strong Republican party in many parts of the state. The Republican Party is currently dominant in Utah politics: no Democrat has won statewide office since 1996, when Jan Graham was elected attorney general;"Money-burning Dems pamper neglected reds," The Salt Lake Tribune, June 12, 2006
/ref> and when

Mia Love Mia, MIA, or M.I.A. may refer to: Music Artists * M.I.A. (rapper) (born 1975), English rapper and singer * M.I.A. (band), 1980s punk rock band from Orange County, California * MIA., a German rock/pop band formed in 1997 * Mia (singer) (born 1983 ...

replaced

Jim Matheson James David Matheson (born March 21, 1960) is an American politician who served as a United States Representative from Utah from 2001 to 2015. He represented Utah's 2nd district from 2001 to 2013 and its from 2013 to 2015 as a member of the De ...

in congress in 2014, Utah's congressional delegation became all-Republican. When Love lost her seat to Ben McAdams in the 2018 election, Democrats regained one of Utah's four seats. After the 2020 election Ben McAdams lost his seat to

Burgess Owens Clarence Burgess Owens (born August 2, 1951) is an American politician, nonprofit executive and former professional football player serving as the U.S. representative for Utah's 4th congressional district since 2021. He played safety for 10 seaso ...

and Utah’s congressional delegation became all-Republican again.

Current elected officials

The Utah Republican Party controls all five statewide offices and holds a

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

in the

Utah House of Representatives The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district conta ...

and the

Utah State Senate The Utah State Senate is the upper house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The Utah Senate is composed of 29 elected members representing an equal number of senate districts. Each senate district is ...

. Republicans also hold both of the state's U.S. Senate seats and all four of the state's U.S. House seats.

Members of Congress

U.S. Senate

File:Mike Lee, official portrait (cropped).jpg, Senior U.S. Senator File:Mitt Romney official US Senate portrait.jpg, Junior U.S. Senator

U.S. House of Representatives

* UT-1st:

Blake Moore Blake David Moore (born June 22, 1980) is an American politician and former diplomat from the state of Utah. He is the U.S. representative for , serving since January 2021. Early life and education Moore was born and raised in Ogden, Utah. He ...

* UT-2nd: Chris Stewart * UT-3rd: John Curtis * UT-4th:

Statewide offices

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

: Spencer Cox *

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Deidre Henderson Deidre Marie Hulse Henderson (born September 4, 1974) is an American politician serving as the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Utah, lieutenant governor of Utah since January 4, 2021. From 2013 to 2021, she served as member of the Utah State Senate ...

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

: Sean Reyes *

State Treasurer In the state governments of the United States, 48 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the position in 1926; duties were transferred to New York State Comptroller. Texas abolished the position of Texas ...

: Marlo Oaks *State Auditor: John Dougall

State Legislature

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

: J. Stuart Adams **

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Evan Vickers Evan J. Vickers is an American politician and a Republican member of the Utah State Senate representing District 28 since January 1, 2013. Vickers previously served in the Utah State Legislature from January 1, 2009 until December 31, 2012 in the ...

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

: Brad Wilson **

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...

: Francis D. Gibson

State party organization

In off-election years the Utah Republican Party holds organizing conventions where state delegate elect a chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer. The state party officers are elected for a term of two (2) years.

Central Committee

The State Central Committee (SCC) has representatives from every county in Utah. Along with the automatic members, each county chair and vice-chair, counties are allocated representative based on the number of voting republicans in that county. These representatives are chosen in elections which take place in the Republican county conventions held in odd-numbered years.

Election results

Presidential

Gubernatorial

Right of Association Legal Appeal

The State Central Committee (SCC) is the governing body of the party. In 2014 the state legislature passed SB54 which created a pathway by which candidates from all parties in Utah could bypass the nominating conventions and qualify directly for the primary ballot by collecting a required number of signatures. SB54 forced the parties in Utah to have open primaries, among other demands. The SCC directed its party chairman, James Evans, to file a lawsuit, which sought, among other things, to overturn the use of open primaries. The Utah Republican Party prevailed on this point, which required the state elections office to defer to the Utah Republican Party as to whether the primary would be open or closed and whether unaffiliated voters would be eligible to sign ballot-access petitions for Republican candidates. The party filed two more lawsuits to try to overturn SB54's signature path to the ballot, but lost those cases. They appealed to the 10th Circuit Court which upheld the lower courts ruling and a subsequent appeal to the US Supreme Court was denied.

State Party Caucuses

Party Caucuses are held every two years in Utah.

County party organizations

Each of Utah's 29 counties has a party organization, which operates within that county and sends delegates to the State Central Committee.

References

External links

Utah Republican PartyUtah County Republican PartyDavis County Republican PartyCache County Republican PartyUtah Republican Veterans CaucusUtah Federation of College RepublicansUtah Teen Aged RepublicansRepublican State Leadership CommitteeUtah Black Republican Assembly
{{Utah political parties Republican Party Republican Party (United States) by state