SALT LAKE CITY — The United Utah Party and the Utah Forward Party are exploring a merger to create a larger centrist presence in the state and a new home for people tired of partisan politics tied to the Republicans and Democrats.
The leaders of the UUP and FWD announced on Wednesday they had signed an agreement and will present plans for a party merger to their delegates at a joint state convention on April 26. If the delegates approve it? The two political parties will merge.
In a joint statement, the parties said talks of a merger accelerated after Sen. Daniel Thatcher quit the Utah Republican Party on the final day of the Utah State Legislature, joining the Forward Party.
"Since 2017 the UUP has been a home to disenfranchised voters and candidates who bravely opted out of an obviously dysfunctional two-party system. They’ve worked tirelessly to give voters a quality third option. They believe that electeds should put the interests of their constituents over those of party bosses. Forward stands for the same, but we do so as part of a 50-state movement. UUP blazed the path, and through this merger, we hope to widen it," said Adam Teuscher, the chair of the Utah Forward Party.
United Utah Party Chair Ladd Johnson said UUP will bring experience and platform to the national presence of the Forward Party. The UUP has run a number of candidates for office in the past, while the Forward Party, founded by businessman and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, has a larger national profile.
Neither party has the reach or dominance of the Utah Republican Party, which has a supermajority in the Utah State Legislature and the entire Utah congressional delegation. Still, the United Utah Party has made some small chips in municipal races and had a high-profile candidate in Michelle Quist, who ran an aggressive campaign for Utah Attorney General. The Forward Party has a sitting state lawmaker on Utah's Capitol Hill with Sen. Thatcher.
Quist gave her blessing to the merger in a text message to FOX 13 News.
"So many Utahns are looking for a political home as they grow more and more uncomfortable with the unproductive state and frankly nasty tenor of national and state partisan politics. Both the United Utah Party and the Utah Forward Party represent the best of what is good in politics - principled leadership, ethical government, and a focus on protecting American democracy," she wrote. "There is a strength in numbers and strength in diversity. Politics should never be a bloodsport. Let’s stop the fighting and come together; let’s take the red and the blue out of politics and just move forward to make a better Utah."
What the parties termed "legacy members" will get to vote on the merger at the April 26 convention at Salt Lake Community College's Redwood Road campus.
