CACHE COUNTY – Republicans here gave their nod to Interim County Attorney K. Taylor Sorensen at the Cache County GOP Nominating Convention on April 13.
The incumbent garnered 378 of 539 votes cast in the first round of balloting by delegates to the local convention, securing 70.13 percent of those ballots and his party’s nomination for the General Election in November.
Rival candidate Cameron Cox narrowly missed an opportunity to force Sorensen into the June 25 statewide primary. With 160 votes, Cox fell short of the 30 percent needed to continue his candidacy by just .32 percentage points.
In his five-minute campaign pitch prior to the balloting at the GOP convention, Sorensen promised delegates that he would support local law enforcement, protect Cache County’s most vulnerable citizens and use his legal expertise to ensure that government operations are honest and transparent.
A local public defender, Cox’s campaign for the elective post of Cache County Attorney had been dogged by allegations of harassment and intimidation by Terryl Warner, the director of the county’s Office of Victim Advocacy.
In an open meeting of the Cache County Council on Mar. 26, Warner charged that she had received two threatening e-mails from Cox due to her support of Sorensen’s campaign. She then went onto blast what she called an atmosphere of alleged threats, intimidation, hostility and retaliation within the county government.
Warner also cited county employees who had been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements and been threatened with lawsuits, accusations that were confirmed by a state audit of the Cache County government in July of 2023 by the Utah Office of Victims of Crime.
Cox had since denied Warner’s accusations against him in a radio interview on KVNU’s “For the People” program with host Jason Williams.
On the eve of the GOP convention, 15 incumbent office holders and local candidates for office issued a statement condemning the alleged hostile work environment in the Cache County Government.
Many observers viewed that statement as a confirmation of Warner’s charges.
In a letter accompanying that statement, Micah Safsten, a policy analyst for the Cache County Council, explained that those office holders and hopefuls are calling for “ … increased civility, better treatment of employees and a more cordial relationship between fellow office holders in Cache County.
“They are united in the belief that Cache County must be a place where all can disagree in a positive, uplifting way,” he added.
Sorensen was one of the signatories of that statement; Cox’s name was absent.
With no candidate remaining to challenge him, Sorensen’s candidacy will now advance to the General Election on Nov. 5.