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Utah Republican Party

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Utah Republican Party
ChairpersonRob Axson
Vice ChairKim Coleman
SecretaryStafford Palmieri
TreasurerMcKay Newell
House leaderMike Schultz
Senate leaderJ. Stuart Adams
Founded1854
Preceded byWhig Party
Free Soil Party
Headquarters117 E. South Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Membership (2024)Decrease902,296[1]
IdeologyConservatism
National affiliationRepublican Party
Colors  Red
Seats in the United States Senate
2 / 2
Seats in the United States House of Representatives
4 / 4
Seats in the Utah Senate
23 / 29
Seats in the Utah House of Representatives
61 / 75
Website
https://utgop.org/

The Utah Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Utah. It is currently the dominant party in the state, and has been for almost all of its history. It currently holds Utah's entire congressional delegation, all statewide executive offices, and supermajorities in both state legislative chambers.

History

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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 statehood in 1896 on the condition that polygamy was banned in the state constitution. The Republican Frank J. Cannon was the first delegate elected to congress by the state of Utah in 1894.[citation needed]

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. 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 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.[2][not specific enough to verify][non-primary source needed]

The Republican Party is currently dominant in Utah politics: no Democrat has won statewide office since 1996, when Jan Graham was elected attorney general;[3] and when Mia Love replaced Jim Matheson 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 and Utah's congressional delegation became all-Republican again.

Current elected officials

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The Utah Republican Party controls all five statewide offices and holds a supermajority in the Utah House of Representatives and the Utah State Senate. 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

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U.S. Senate

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U.S. House of Representatives

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Statewide offices

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State Legislature

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State party organization

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Office Office-holder
Chair Robert Axson
Vice Chair Kim Coleman
Secretary Stafford Palmieri
Treasurer McKay Newell

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

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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

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Presidential

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Utah Republican Party presidential election results
Election Presidential Ticket Votes Vote % Electoral votes Result
1896 William McKinley/Garret Hobart 13,491 17.27%
0 / 3
Won
1900 William McKinley/Theodore Roosevelt 47,139 50.65%
3 / 3
Won
1904 Theodore Roosevelt/Charles W. Fairbanks 62,452 61.41%
3 / 3
Won
1908 William Howard Taft/James S. Sherman 61,165 56.23%
3 / 3
Won
1912 William Howard Taft/Nicholas M. Butler 42,013 37.42%
4 / 4
Lost
1916 Charles E. Hughes/Charles W. Fairbanks 54,137 37.82%
0 / 4
Lost
1920 Warren G. Harding/Calvin Coolidge 81,555 55.93%
4 / 4
Won
1924 Calvin Coolidge/Charles G. Dawes 77,327 49.26%
4 / 4
Won
1928 Herbert Hoover/Charles Curtis 94,618 58.58%
4 / 4
Won
1932 Herbert Hoover/Charles Curtis 84,795 41.05%
0 / 4
Lost
1936 Alf Landon/Frank Knox 64,555 29.79%
0 / 4
Lost
1940 Wendell Willkie/Charles L. McNary 93,151 37.59%
0 / 4
Lost
1944 Thomas E. Dewey/John W. Bricker 97,891 39.42%
0 / 4
Lost
1948 Thomas E. Dewey/Earl Warren 124,402 45.02%
0 / 4
Lost
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower/Richard Nixon 194,190 58.93%
4 / 4
Won
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower/Richard Nixon 215,631 64.56%
4 / 4
Won
1960 Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. 205,361 54.81%
4 / 4
Lost
1964 Barry Goldwater/William E. Miller 180,682 45.14%
0 / 4
Lost
1968 Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew 238,728 56.49%
4 / 4
Won
1972 Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew 323,643 67.64%
4 / 4
Won
1976 Gerald Ford/Bob Dole 337,908 62.44%
4 / 4
Lost
1980 Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush 439,687 72.77%
4 / 4
Won
1984 Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush 469,105 74.50%
5 / 5
Won
1988 George H. W. Bush/Dan Quayle 428,442 66.22%
5 / 5
Won
1992 George H. W. Bush/Dan Quayle 322,332 43.36%
5 / 5
Lost
1996 Bob Dole/Jack Kemp 361,911 54.37%
5 / 5
Lost
2000 George W. Bush/Dick Cheney 515,096 66.83%
5 / 5
Won
2004 George W. Bush/Dick Cheney 663,742 71.54%
5 / 5
Won
2008 John McCain/Sarah Palin 596,030 62.24%
5 / 5
Lost
2012 Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan 740,600 72.62%
6 / 6
Lost
2016 Donald Trump/Mike Pence 515,231 45.54%
6 / 6
Won
2020 Donald Trump/Mike Pence 865,140 58.16%
6 / 6
Lost

Gubernatorial

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Utah Republican Party gubernatorial election results
Election Gubernatorial candidate Votes Vote % Result
1895 Heber Manning Wells 20,833 50.32% Won Green tickY
1900 Heber Manning Wells 40,209 51.98% Won Green tickY
1904 John Christopher Cutler 50,837 49.97% Won Green tickY
1908 William Spry 52,913 47.45% Won Green tickY
1912 William Spry 42,552 38.17% Won Green tickY
1916 Nephi L. Morris 59,529 41.80% Lost Red XN
1920 Charles R. Mabey 81,550 57.59% Won Green tickY
1924 Charles R. Mabey 72,127 47.01% Lost Red XN
1928 William Henry Wattis 72,306 41.08% Lost Red XN
1932 William W. Seegmiller 85,913 41.76% Lost Red XN
1936 Ray E. Dillman 60,118 35.41% Lost Red XN
1940 Don B. Colton 117,713 47.69% Lost Red XN
1944 J. Bracken Lee 122,851 49.79% Lost Red XN
1948 J. Bracken Lee 151,253 54.99% Won Green tickY
1952 J. Bracken Lee 180,516 55.09% Won Green tickY
1956 George Dewey Clyde 127,164 38.20% Won Green tickY
1960 George Dewey Clyde 195,634 52.66% Won Green tickY
1964 Mitchell Melich 171,300 43.01% Lost Red XN
1968 Carl W. Buehner 131,729 31.29% Lost Red XN
1972 Nicholas L. Strike 144,449 30.31% Lost Red XN
1976 Vernon B. Romney 248,027 45.96% Lost Red XN
1980 Bob Wright 266,578 44.43% Lost Red XN
1984 Norman H. Bangerter 351,792 55.87% Won Green tickY
1988 Norman H. Bangerter 260,462 40.13% Won Green tickY
1992 Mike Leavitt 321,713 42.19% Won Green tickY
1996 Mike Leavitt 503,693 74.97% Won Green tickY
2000 Mike Leavitt 424,837 55.77% Won Green tickY
2004 Jon Huntsman Jr. 531,190 57.74% Won Green tickY
2008 Jon Huntsman Jr. 735,049 77.63% Won Green tickY
2010 (special) Gary Herbert 412,151 64.07% Won Green tickY
2012 Gary Herbert 688,592 68.41% Won Green tickY
2016 Gary Herbert 750,850 66.74% Won Green tickY
2020 Spencer Cox 918,754 62.98% Won Green tickY
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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

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Party Caucuses are held every two years in Utah.

County party organizations

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

County Party Website
Cache http://cachegop.com/
Davis http://www.davisgop.org/
Morgan http://www.morganutahgop.org/
Salt Lake http://www.slcogop.com
Sanpete http://www.sanpetecountyrepublicans.com
Summit http://www.summitcountygop.org
Utah http://ucrp.org
Weber http://www.wcrgop.org

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Voter Registration Statistics". Utah Secretary of State. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  2. ^ Utah Republican Party. "Utah Republican Party". Utgop.org. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Money-burning Dems pamper neglected reds," The Salt Lake Tribune, June 12, 2006
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