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 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.
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.
The Republican Party is currently dominant in Utah politics: no Democrat has won statewide office since 1996, when Jan Graham was elected attorney general;"Money-burning Dems pamper neglected reds," The Salt Lake Tribune, June 12, 2006 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 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 U.S. Senate
U.S. House of Representatives UT-1st: Blake Moore UT-2nd: Celeste Maloy UT-3rd: Mike Kennedy UT-4th: Burgess Owens
Statewide offices Governor: Spencer Cox Lieutenant Governor: Deidre Henderson Attorney General: Derek Brown State Treasurer: Marlo Oaks State Auditor: Tina Cannon
State Legislature President of the Senate: J. Stuart Adams Senate Majority Leader: Kirk Cullimore Speaker of the House: Mike Schultz House Majority Leader: Casey Snider
State party organization Office Office-holder Chair Robert Axson Vice Chair Melanie Monestere Secretary Stafford Palmieri Treasurer Jason Knavel
In off-election years the Utah Republican Party holds organizing conventions where state delegates elect a chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer. The state party officers are elected for a term of two years.
Central Committee 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.
Auxiliaries The Utah Republican Party has seven registered auxiliaries. This list includes: Utah Elephant Club, Utah Federation of Republican Women, Utah Young Republicans, Utah Federation of College Republicans, Utah Native American Caucus, Utah Republican Women's Liberty Caucus, and Utah Republican Veterans' Caucus.
Utah Federation of College Republicans The Utah Federation of College Republicans (UFCR) is a state-level organization in Utah that oversees College Republican chapters at colleges and universities across the state. It is affiliated with the College Republicans of America (CRA), a national organization established in 2023, and works to promote conservative values, support Republican candidates, and engage college students in political activism. The UFCR operates as an official auxiliary of the Utah Republican Party, it collaborates closely with the state party to advance shared goals.
The UFCR holds chapters at Brigham Young University, University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, and more.
Election results
Presidential +Utah Republican Party presidential election resultsElectionPresidential ticketVotesVote %Electoral votesResult1896William McKinley/Garret Hobart13,49117.27%1900William McKinley/Theodore Roosevelt47,13950.65%1904Theodore Roosevelt/Charles W. Fairbanks62,45261.41%1908William Howard Taft/James S. Sherman61,16556.23%1912William Howard Taft/Nicholas M. Butler42,01337.42%1916Charles E. Hughes/Charles W. Fairbanks54,13737.82%1920Warren G. Harding/Calvin Coolidge81,55555.93%1924Calvin Coolidge/Charles G. Dawes77,32749.26%1928Herbert Hoover/Charles Curtis94,61858.58%1932Herbert Hoover/Charles Curtis84,79541.05%1936Alf Landon/Frank Knox64,55529.79%1940Wendell Willkie/Charles L. McNary93,15137.59%1944Thomas E. Dewey/John W. Bricker97,89139.42%1948Thomas E. Dewey/Earl Warren124,40245.02%1952Dwight D. Eisenhower/Richard Nixon194,19058.93%1956Dwight D. Eisenhower/Richard Nixon215,63164.56%1960Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.205,36154.81%1964Barry Goldwater/William E. Miller180,68245.14%1968Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew238,72856.49%1972Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew323,64367.64%1976Gerald Ford/Bob Dole337,90862.44%1980Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush439,68772.77%1984Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush469,10574.50%1988George H. W. Bush/Dan Quayle428,44266.22%1992George H. W. Bush/Dan Quayle322,33243.36%1996Bob Dole/Jack Kemp361,91154.37%2000George W. Bush/Dick Cheney515,09666.83%2004George W. Bush/Dick Cheney663,74271.54%2008John McCain/Sarah Palin596,03062.24%2012Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan740,60072.62%2016Donald Trump/Mike Pence515,23145.54%2020Donald Trump/Mike Pence865,14058.16%2024Donald Trump/JD Vance883,81859.38%
Gubernatorial +Utah Republican Party gubernatorial election resultsElectionGubernatorial candidate/ticketVotesVote %Result1895Heber Manning Wells20,83350.32%Won 1900Heber Manning Wells40,20951.98%Won 1904John Christopher Cutler50,83749.97%Won 1908William Spry52,91347.45%Won 1912William Spry42,55238.17%Won 1916Nephi L. Morris59,52941.80%Lost 1920Charles R. Mabey81,55057.59%Won 1924Charles R. Mabey72,12747.01%Lost 1928William H. Wattis72,30641.08%Lost 1932William W. Seegmiller85,91341.76%Lost 1936Ray E. Dillman60,11835.41%Lost 1940Don B. Colton117,71347.69%Lost 1944J. Bracken Lee122,85149.79%Lost 1948J. Bracken Lee151,25354.99%Won 1952J. Bracken Lee180,51655.09%Won 1956George Dewey Clyde127,16438.20%Won 1960George Dewey Clyde195,63452.66%Won 1964Mitchell Melich171,30043.01%Lost 1968Carl W. Buehner131,72931.29%Lost 1972Nicholas L. Strike144,44930.31%Lost 1976Vernon B. Romney248,02745.96%Lost 1980Bob Wright266,57844.43%Lost 1984Norman H. Bangerter351,79255.87%Won 1988Norman H. Bangerter260,46240.13%Won 1992Mike Leavitt/Olene Walker321,71342.19%Won 1996Mike Leavitt/Olene Walker503,69374.97%Won 2000Mike Leavitt/Olene Walker424,83755.77%Won 2004Jon Huntsman Jr./Gary Herbert531,19057.74%Won 2008Jon Huntsman Jr./Gary Herbert735,04977.63%Won 2010 (special)Gary Herbert/Greg Bell412,15164.07%Won 2012Gary Herbert/Greg Bell688,59268.41%Won 2016Gary Herbert/Spencer Cox750,85066.74%Won 2020Spencer Cox/Deidre Henderson918,75462.98%Won 2024Spencer Cox/Deidre Henderson781,43152.89%Won
Right of Association Legal Appeal
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 Party Caucuses are held every two years in Utah.
County party organizations
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 https://www.webergop.org
See also Republican Party Democratic Party of Utah Libertarian Party of Utah
References
External links
Utah Republican Party Utah County Republican Party Davis County Republican Party Cache County Republican Party Utah Republican Veterans Caucus Utah Federation of College Republicans Utah Teen Aged Republicans Republican State Leadership Committee Utah Black Republican Assembly