Letter: If it came to it, would Utahns respond like Minnesotans did? Would Utah leaders defend democratic norms under threat?

Minnesota showed the nation what it looks like when ordinary people refuse to let authoritarianism take hold. Citizens there stood up at real personal risk, and some paid with their lives. Here in Utah, seven in ten Republican voters supported a president whose criminal convictions would have put any other American behind bars. In 2024, Donald Trump won Utah with 59.39% of the vote — a higher share than he received nationally.

If Utah were confronted with the same test Minnesota faced, what would we do? Our Legislature has repeatedly overridden or weakened voter‑approved initiatives. Utahns have passed only 25% of citizen‑initiated ballot measures since statehood, while the Legislature has referred nearly seven times as many of its own measures to the ballot. And when voters approved an independent redistricting commission in 2018, lawmakers moved quickly to repeal and replace it — an action the Utah Supreme Court struck down only in 2024. Nothing in this pattern suggests our Legislature would defend democratic norms when they are most threatened.

And what of the dominant faith in this state? Its leaders reaffirmed in 2024 that the church “does not endorse, promote or oppose political parties or candidates,” urging only “Christlike love and civility in political discourse.” Moral neutrality in moments of democratic crisis is not neutral at all — it is permission.

I have marched with thousands of Utahns who refuse to accept the slow erosion of our democracy. But thousands are not enough in a state of 3.5 million people. And while Utah set a record for total ballots cast in 2024, turnout still fell from 90% in 2020 to 85% in 2024. That means hundreds of thousands of eligible Utahns sat out an election that will shape the future of our institutions.

Minnesota proved that ordinary citizens could hold the line. Utah must decide whether we will do the same — or whether we will look away until the damage is irreversible.

Edward Blake, Salt Lake City

Submit a letter to the editor