CACHE COUNTY – Of all the local candidates who have filed to run for state-level offices in 2024, only one has signaled so far that he intends to gather voter signatures to qualify for the Republican primary ballot.
That decision isn’t necessarily one made voluntarily, because the Cache GOP and state- level party officials are committed to the caucus/convention system and tend to disapprove of signature gathering.
They really disapprove of that process … really, really disapprove.
Jason Thompson, the mayor of River Heights, has elected to weather that party disapproval and collect voter signatures to secure a place on the GOP primary ballot.
Thompson is running for the District 3 seat in the Utah House, which incumbent Rep. Dan Johnson has decided to vacate at the end of this term.
Unless other candidates file before the filing deadline of 5 p.m. on Jan. 8, Thompson will face off against former Cache County council member Paul Borup for the District 3 seat.
Thompson only has to gather 1,000 signatures of registered Republican voters to guarantee that his name will be on the primary ballot, but the Cache County Republicans aren’t going to do anything to make that process easy.
The Cache GOP website explains that there are two ways to get on the ballot. The first is to gather signatures and the second is through the caucus/conventions system.
“The Cache County Republican Party exists primarily to support the caucus/convention system,” the website states flatly.
For candidates intending to gather signatures, the local party will not provide “any recognition as a candidate or assistance in any form, including delegate contact lists, until after the primary election.”
Republican officials in other areas of the state are much less committed to the caucus/convention system, however.
In fact, nearly 100 candidates for federal and state offices have signaled their intent to gather signatures in the state, including U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), Gov. Spencer Cox, about 18 candidates for the Utah Senate and more than 60 candidates for the Utah House.
In other election filing news, incumbent state Rep. Mike Petersen will complete with Tom Liljegren, a student advisor at Utah State University, for the District 2 seat in the Utah House.
In House District 5 in the extreme south of Cache Valley, incumbent state Rep. Casey Snider will face Cary J. Youmans, a USU music instructor. Youmans ran unsuccessfully against Snider as a write-in candidate in 2022.
As of Jan. 8, it appears that state Sen. Chris Wilson will run uncontested to retain his District 2 seat in the Utah Senate.