LOGAN – After Republican primary balloting on June 25, most races for state offices here in Utah ended predictably.
As expected, incumbent Gov. Spencer Cox won the right to seek re-election to his post, easily defeating challenger Phil Lyman by a wide margin of nearly 50,000 votes.
A former county commissioner turned state legislator, Lyman’s primary claim to fame was leading an illegal all-terrain vehicle protest on federal land.
In 2015, a judge sentenced Lyman to 10 days in jail and three years of probation for that act of civil disobedience, a sentence that was eventually pardoned by former President Donald Trump.
That fact alone was probably sufficient to win approval for Lyman from hard-line conservatives at the April 27 GOP convention, where Cox was booed by delegates. But nominations by the Republican Party’s alleged “faithful” have seldom had much impact on statewide voting habits of rank-and-file Republicans.
In the June 25 primary balloting, Cox captured 58 percent of statewide total of nearly 289,000 votes, compared to 41 percent for Lyman, according to preliminary results released by the state on primary night.
Cox will now face lawyer Brian King, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, in the November general election.
In the three-way race for attorney general, former GOP chair and lawmaker Derek Brown came out ahead of Rachel Terry, the director of the state’s risk management office and a former civil rights attorney, as well as Cottonwood Heights attorney Frank Mylar.
In the primary balloting, Brown was favored by nearly 46 percent of GOP voters compared to 33 percent for Terry and 20 percent for Mylar.
Brown will now compete for the state post with Rudy Bautista, a Democratic defense attorney; Andrew McCullough, a civil right attorney running as a libertarian; and, business litigator Michelle Quist, who is running as a candidate for the Utah United Party.
In the only race considered to be a toss-up for State Auditor, Tina Cannon, a former Morgan County commissioner and one of incumbent State Auditor’s John Dougall’s deputies, defeated Weber County Clerk Ricky Hatch.
Cannon won 57 percent of the 272,060 GOP votes statewide, compared to 42 percent for Hatch.
In the November general election, Cannon will face Democratic nominee Catherine Voutaz and Jeffrey Ostler, the Constitution Party nominee.
In the race for State House District 2 seat, incumbent Rep. Mike Petersen bested challenger Mike Monson. Peterson claimed 58 percent of the nearly 5,000 GOP votes cast in his district, compared to 41 percent for Monson.
Also running uncontested for state offices in the GOP primary were incumbent Marlo Oakes re-election as State Treasurer; Sen. Chris Wilson for re-election to State Senate District 2; incumbent Thomas Peterson for re-election to House District 1; River Heights Mayor Jason Thompson for State House District 3; and, incumbent Casey Snider for re-election to State House District 5.
In November, Peterson will face Democrat Claudia Bigler in State House District 1; Thompson will face independent Patrick Belmont in State House District 3; and, Wilson will face Nancy Huntly in State Senate District 2.