SALT LAKE CITY — With the filing period now closed, the candidates to be Utah's next governor are beginning to campaign.
At a news conference on Utah's Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Democratic candidate for governor Brian King outlined a list of items he wanted to focus on to draw a distinction between himself and others in the race. They included tax reform, combating book bans, reproductive rights and the Great Salt Lake.
"It's astonishing to me, quite honestly, that I'm the one standing up saying this: In the state of Utah, with supermajority control by Republicans, when they supposedly are the small government party, I don’t see that nearly enough," he said.
There are nine candidates in the race — five Republicans, a Democrat, a Libertarian, a member of the Independent American party and an unaffiliated candidate. Everyone is going up against Republican Governor Spencer Cox, who is seeking his second term in office.
"We've accomplished so much over the past three years now," Gov. Cox told reporters after filing to run for re-election, citing tax cuts, his efforts to combat social media harms and his desire to make housing more affordable and deal with Utah's massive growth in his second term.
Gov. Cox is popular according to public opinion polling and he enters the race with incumbent advantage. But he faces four challengers from within his own party — former Utah GOP Chair Carson Jorgensen; Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding; and candidates Slyvia Miera-Fisk and Scott Robbins.
"This is a battle of ideas, not a battle of people," Jorgensen told FOX 13 News after he filed to run.
Each candidate brings a list of issues they plan to campaign on. Jorgensen said he's concerned about state spending, education and vocational training needs and water needs. Lyman said he's also concerned about state spending on initiatives that he doesn't feel like it's the proper role of government, land, energy and federalism.
"I don't like the government picking winners and losers," he said. "I'd like to see a stronger legislature more responsive to the people, more accountable to the people."
In a statement, Miera-Fisk was critical of Gov. Cox and his policies, pledging if she were elected she would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in state agencies. Robbins did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on his platform.
Latham said in a statement announcing his candidacy he would abolish Utah's Division of Child and Family Services, promote jury nullification and ranked choice voting across the state.
"I wish the incumbent's Republican challengers well, but none of them will be on the 2024 general election ballot. I will," Latham wrote.
Among the Republicans, an interesting wrinkle in the race — three of the candidates are from rural Utah. Gov. Cox lives in Fairview, Lyman lives in Blanding and Jorgensen lives in Mt. Pleasant.
"I think that’s amazing," Gov. Cox said. "I'm the first rural governor we’ve had in a long, long time. I grew up in rural Utah, stayed in rural Utah and so I think that’s really important to talk about those issues. There's a growing divide between urban and rural in our country and I've been very lucky to be able to bridge that divide."
Asked if rural Utah will be a bigger factor in this year's election, Jorgensen acknowledged that people in communities not along the Wasatch Front are speaking up more politically.
"People feel that rural is being left behind and a governor has to represent the entire state not just a certain population center," he said. "As we do that, there’s a lot of issues that are going to come in from outside city limits."
But each of the candidates said they are campaigning to bridge any urban-rural divide.
"That’s an interesting dynamic. Utah is the West. Utah, even if you live in the city, you don’t consider yourself an urbanite. You really are a Utah western lifestyle person," Lyman told FOX 13 News, later adding: "I don’t see it so much as a urban-rural thing as a Utah values person."
King, who represents a portion of Salt Lake City in the Utah House of Representatives, said there are some differences but he's already found some things that unite.
"Rural utahns are a little skeptical, maybe a lot more skeptical about bills dealing with guns than Salt Lake residents, urban Utahns," he told reporters. "But I'll tell you, reproductive rights? This is something all Utahns I think are pretty much on the same page in saying we want the government out of our lives when we talk about some of the most personal decisions we make."
