Failed gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman is asking the Utah Supreme Court to oust Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson from office, kick them both off the 2024 ballot, eliminate Rep. John Curtis as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and upend the state’s political system.
Lyman, a state lawmaker and accountant who is acting as his own counsel, contends that due to “malfeasance” in office, the court should disqualify Cox and Henderson from office and replace them with Utah Senate President Stuart Adams and a lieutenant governor that Adams chooses until after the upcoming election.
Beyond that, Lyman argues, a few candidates for top offices who were chosen as the party’s nominees by more than half a million Republican voters in the primary election in June should be disqualified from the ballot and replaced by the candidates who received more than 60% of delegate support at the Utah Republican Party’s nominating convention in April.
Lyman, for example, got a little over two-thirds of delegates’ support, while Cox, however, gathered signatures from voters under 2014′s SB54, enables candidates to qualify for the primary by collecting enough signatures from supporters.
Cox ended up soundly beating Lyman — 54.4% to 45.6% — in the GOP primary
Lyman contends that the signature-gathering route — which has already withstood legal challenges and appeals from the Republican Party — is unconstitutional and invalid. Accordingly, Lyman argues he, and not Cox, deserves to be the party’s nominee.
Lyman initially filed as a signature-gathering candidate, but abandoned his efforts early on.
Theoretically, if Lyman prevails, he would likely go on to be the next governor of Utah, which has not elected a Democrat to the office in 44 years.
But his race isn’t the only one where the nominee chosen by voters would be eliminated.
U.S. Rep. John Curtis, chosen by Republican voters as the party’s nominee to replace U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, would be eliminated and replaced with Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, even though Staggs — who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump — received less than a third of the support from Republican primary voters.
Derek Brown, who Republican voters chose as the party’s nominee for attorney general, did not do well among Republican delegates, but gathered signatures and won the party’s primary election by a convincing margin.
However, if the signatures are invalid, as Lyman contends, it is unclear who would be the party’s nominee. Frank Mylar — who is facing a felony charge for allegedly attempting to bribe an opponent for his endorsement — did best at the convention but came up short of the 60% threshold. Rachel Terry finished second at the nominating convention and second to Brown in the GOP primary.
Lyman’s lawsuit seeks a “judgment of removal from office for Governor Spencer Cox for malfeasance. ... As he was the Lieutenant Governor during the district court cases related to SB54, he should have had knowledge of how to apply it properly.”
Lyman Lawsuit by Robert Gehrke on Scribd
Cox should also be disqualified from the 2024 ballot, Lyman contends, because the incumbent did not reach the 40% threshold at the convention to qualify for the ballot.
Cox’s campaign spokesman, Matt Lusty, said Lyman’s attempt to undo the election ignores the will of more than 400,000 Republican voters and “is not just sad, but dangerous.”
“It’s the kind of action you see in a banana republic and not the United States of America,” he said. “Half the candidates in the primary election lost. In our proud American tradition, almost all of them did so with grace and poise. We encourage Mr. Lyman and his camp to do the same.”
Lyman is also asking the court to force Utah Republican Party Chairman Rob Axson to declare candidates like Staggs and Lyman — who won at the state convention but lost their primaries decisively — as the party’s nominees for the November election. Henderson also should have to notify voters of the new nominees and explain why her office made a mistake, Lyman argues.
Axson said Friday that he can’t say much as a defendant in the suit, but Lyman’s arguments suggest he has the power to decide which candidates are on the general election ballot, which he does not.
The party tells the state elections office who won at the nominating convention, he said, but after that, it’s out of the party’s hands. Nominated candidates are put on the primary ballot along with those who gather signatures, and the primary is run by the state, with the primary winners advancing to the November general election.
“That is 100% executed through state law,” he said.
Because Lyman received over 60% at April’s convention, his was the only name the party submitted. But because Cox got signatures, state law gave him a spot on the primary ballot.
In addition to ousting the sitting governor and lieutenant governor, Lyman is demanding the Utah Supreme Court order the release of the names of individuals who signed petitions to put Cox on the ballot — even though the Utah State Records Committee and a state judge ruled last month that voters can designate their records as private.
Lyman, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 days in jail for leading an illegal all-terrain vehicle protest before he was ultimately pardoned by Trump, also wants the court to order Henderson’s office to turn over election records that cannot be released under federal law.