OREM – Utah Republicans are gearing up for their State Nominating Convention to be held here on Saturday, April 25.
At that event, precinct chairs and delegates from Cache County will help decide whether the race for northern Utah’s seat in Congress will go to a primary run-off.
The GOP contenders in that contest are U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-2nd Dist.), state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee (R-Dist. 14) and candidate Colton Hatch.
If the convention opts for Moore, the 2nd Congressional District race will not be included on the GOP primary ballot on Tuesday, June 23 and the third-term incumbent will go directly to the general election ballot in November.
On the other hand, if the convention delegates uphold the candidacy of either Lisonbee or Hatch, the race will then go to the primary because Moore has played it safe by gathering enough voter signatures to qualify for the primary ballot.
State GOP officials say that delegates play a crucial role in Utah’s caucus and convention system, ensuring that grassroots Republican voters have a voice in selecting candidates and shaping the party’s platform.
After being elected at neighborhood caucus meetings, Republican delegates represent the interests and concerns of local voters at the State Nominating Convention, where they hear directly from candidates.
The delegates then vote to determine which Republican candidates will appear on the primary ballot—or, if a candidate secures 60 percent or more of delegate votes, they become the party’s nominee in the general election.
Despite his role as the fifth-ranking Republican in Congress, Moore is regarded as a moderate by many Utah Republicans, while Lisonbee is widely seen as a conservative firebrand based on her legislative record.
Prior to being elected to Congress in 2020, Moore’s previous experience included working as an international healthcare consultant with DocBerry International, a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State and an executive with the Cicero Group.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, Lisonbee worked as a bookkeeper and political consultant.
A graduate of the University of Utah, Hatch is regarded as a long-shot candidate. He served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2016 to 2022 and his professional experience includes working as a financial advisor.
Lisonbee says she’s running for Congress on a solidly conservative record of having led Utah’s legislative super-majority to victories on abortion (currently held up in court, however), restricting immigration and election security.
In a recent exchange of political barbs, she also sought to hang Utah’s troublesome redistricting issue like an albatross around Moore’s neck.
Lisonbee charges that Moore is trying to run away from his record of serving as one of the original Republican co-chairs of Better Boundaries and one of the early supporters of putting Proposition 4 on the ballot in 2018.
After years of subsequent litigation, Proposition 4 resulted in reducing the number of solid GOP congressional seats in the U.S. House from four to three, obliging Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) to retire and creating a court-ordered Democratic enclave in Salt Lake County.
While still opposed to partisan gerrymandering, Moore says he now supports future amendments to clarify that voter initiatives cannot override the authority of state legislatures to create policy.
GOP state delegates at their upcoming nominating convention will likely have to balance battling endorsements of the leading candidates.
Moore’s campaign touts their candidate as having received endorsements from Utah Senate President Stuart Adams (R-Layton), U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), U.S. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and even President Donald Trump.
Lisonbee has meanwhile been endorsed by the numerous Republican state lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Schultz (R-Hooper), House Majority Leader Casey Snider (R-Paradise) and Rep. Mike Petersen (R-North Logan).
Most recently, Lisonbee was also endorsed by State Auditor Tina Cannon.
“I know how important it is to send a watchdog to Washington, D.C.,” Cannon said in a statement accompanying her endorsement. “Karianne Lisonbee is the candidate I trust to increase transparency and accountability as well as eliminate fraud, waste and abuse from federal programs …”
The GOP State Nominating Convention is slated to begin at 7 a.m. on April 25 at the Utah Community Credit Union Center at 800 West University Parkway in Orem.