SALT LAKE CITY — Utah voters will hear from three candidates vying for the governor's office Wednesday evening.
The debate will take place at 6 p.m., hosted by the Utah Debate Commission on the Salt Lake Community College campus. It will air on Utah 16 and will be live-streamed on fox13now.com.
Here's a quick recap of who will be participating tonight.
The Republican incumbent, Gov. Spencer Cox, is running for his second term. He was elected in 2020 and took office in 2021. He previously served as lieutenant governor for Gov. Gary Herbert from 2013-2021.
The nominee from the Democratic Party is state Rep. Brian King, who represents Utah's 23rd House District in parts of Salt Lake County and Summit County. He has been an elected member of the state legislature since 2009, representing District 28 until 2023 due to redistricting. He was also the House Minority Leader from 2015 to 2023.
The Libertarian candidate is J. Robert Latham, a criminal defense and child welfare attorney practicing out of St. George. He previously served as the town attorney for Big Water, located in Kane County. In 2020, he ran against then-Congressman Chris Stewart, netting only 4.4 percent of the vote.
How did we end up with three candidates debating?
A Lighthouse Research survey provided by the Utah Debate Commission shows 48.1 percent favoring Cox, 27 percent favoring King, and 6.8 percent Latham.
Under the debate commission's criteria, candidates who receive at least 5.7 percent of votes in these polls qualify for the debate.
Candidates appearing on the ballot but not in the debate are Tommy Williams (Independent American Party) and Tom Tomeny (Unaffiliated). According to Ballotpedia, there are three others running as write-in candidates: Phil Lyman, Richard Lyman and Charlie Tautuaa.
Future debates hosted by the Utah Debate Commission:
Attorney General
- Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 6:00 p.m.
- Southern Utah University, Cedar City
Congressional District 1
- Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 6:00 p.m.
- Utah State University, Logan
U.S. Senate
- Thursday, Oct. 10 at 6:00 p.m.
- Weber State University, Ogden
Congressional District 2
- Monday, Oct 14 at 6:00 p.m.
- Utah Tech University, St. George
Congressional District 3
- Thursday, Oct. 17 at 6:00 p.m.
- Brigham Young University, Provo
Congressional District 4
- Thursday, Oct 24 at 6:00 p.m.
- University of Utah, Salt Lake City
