Utah’s Republican primaries are coming up fast.
For those of you who don’t know Utah politics, here’s a quick primer. Outside of a few blue big city enclaves that elect democrats, the real action in Utah politics is in the party conventions/primaries. Since our liberals/progressives can’t win as the democrats they are they usually run as republicans.
Utah has a primary system where local caucuses choose delegates to represent our neighborhoods, then they vote at a convention to select the candidates. Primaries were just for run offs when a candidate didn’t get a high enough percentage of delegates. But since delegates tended to be politically astute and well informed (not easily bamboozled) that didn’t work well for RINOs. So they managed to push through a ridiculous alternate system where you can also go on the primary ballot if you get enough signatures.
So the actual conservative usually wins at the convention, but then the RINO (who inevitably has big corporate/union backing) just pays professional signature gatherers to buy their way onto the primary ballot. Then they just spend that sweet teacher’s union money on ads to the primary voters saying how conservative they are, until they get elected and vote for the same old lefty crap. Or alternatively, concentrate on getting sweet business deals for their family and friends. Either way, the people of Utah lose.
So if you non-Utahns ever wonder why Utah is the natural habitat of the Great White RINO, now you know. If you go on safari here you can watch Mitt Romney or Spencer Cox (He/Him) graze majestically upon our tax dollars.
However, we can still beat these RINOs in the actual primaries. That just requires educating the populace. The following is all MY OPINION (because some of these RINOs are vindictive and litigious!). Check out the ones in your area for yourself.
Mike Lee – Senate This is the obvious one. Becky Edwards and Ally Isom are both democrats. Ally is better than Becky who was left leaning in the legislature for years. She got booed at the convention, but this is classic Utah politics where our democrats know they can’t win as democrats so they run as republicans. Isom even switched to being a democrat while Trump was president.
Back when I was still a corporate accountant I ended up working with Mike Lee’s office on a few issues. The guy is legit. I agree with Mike Lee most of the time, which is pretty remarkable for any elected official.
Andrew Badger – US Congress North Utah This is a big one. My incumbent congressman is Blake Moore, who is basically a bowl of lukewarm oatmeal. The only things Moore is known for in congress involves allegations of insider trading and his dad getting lucrative contracts at Hill AFB. Oh, and he voted for the January 6 committee. Yay. Seriously, nobody here can name a thing this guy has done for us.
This is another one where the Utah’s traditional delegate system gets thwarted, and the corporate candidate gets signatures. Badger won at the convention and should be the Republican nominee. Everything I’ve heard about Badger from people I trust is that he’s solid.
Chris Herod – US Congress Utah County Not my area, but everything I’ve heard about John Curtis is meh.
Ron Mortenson – House 20 Woods Cross Another one where the actual conservative beat the RINO at the convention, but the RINO gathers signatures and then uses their fat stack of cash in the primary (her maiden name is Garff, so Utahns know how much money that’s worth). Ballard is typical establishment, left leaning. Mortenson seems actually conservative but doesn’t have her money.
Alena Erickson – House 18 Centerville Everything I’ve heard about Erickson, she’s conservative. Her opponent (Cutler) was the mayor of Centerville and has got endorsements from all the RINOs in the legislature. There’s no incumbent here, but it was held by Hawkes, who gave Cutler money.
Lyle Mason – 19 Bountiful All my political animal friends say Mason is legit. He’s up against the pro abortion, pro-tax, pro-mask mandate Ray Ward (who only votes with the republicans 19% of the time). When I ask how the heck does this guy win, it’s because he’s a “family doctor” (Utah always gets suckered by “nice”) But Mason’s a doctor too, only he’s not going to order your kids to wear masks.
Doug Durbano – Senate 5 Ogden He’s up against Ann Milner, who I warned you all about when she got elected the first time. She’s against the senate bill to end this signature gathering mess that’s screwed up all the races above. She’s turned out to be about as mushy left leaning as I predicted. This is one of the few times where I disagree with Mike Lee, but he endorsed her because they worked with her over a decade ago. No, sorry, Mike, we can do better.
Tyson Plastow – Davis Auditor Plastow is an actual auditor by trade. Koch has been in for 13 years and thinks mail in ballots are great and there’s no possibility of fraud. This one is a no brainer.
Luke Brooks – Davis Commission he’s up against Stevenson, who wants Davis county to have a mayor like SLC. Beware politicians who want to concentrate more power in fewer hands. I’m hazy on the details but I’ve been told that Stevenson’s also the guy who screwed up the big pharma lawsuit settlement that got Davis a fraction of what other counties received.
Betty Young – Senate 6 Syracuse She’s a conservative who is up against the guy who owns J&J Garden Center. I hear he’s a nice guy, but he’s been there forever, votes absent all the time, and probably should retire.
Kimberly Cozzens – House 8 Ogden everything I’m hearing is she’s a staunch conservative and it’s a vacant seat.
The following are people I’ve heard good things about but lack first-hand knowledge. Hey, unlike most punditry, I’m at least honest!
Melanie Mortensen – State school board
Katy Hall – House 11 South Ogden
Bill Olsen – Weber Commission seat A
Shanna Francis – Weber Commission seat B
Jen Savage, Jenny Stoker, Wendy Likert, Derek Lamb – Davis School Board
edited to add:
