State Rep. Phil Lyman lost the Republican primary election for Utah governor by nearly 40,000 votes in June. Now, in the midst of pursuing multiple legal challenges to Gov. Spencer Cox’s eligibility for the ballot, he will launch a write-in campaign to replace the state’s top official.
In a social media post responding to a supporter Sunday afternoon, Lyman wrote, “I will be running as a write-in candidate in the general election in November,” then told another, “There is a true conservative option.”
“The only option we have is to pursue what’s available to us, and that’s through the courts and through potentially a write-in,” Lyman told The Salt Lake Tribune. The doubts he has raised about the election, with little evidence, have been “positive” for his campaign, he said.
On Monday, as part of one of his ongoing lawsuits tied to the election, he asked the Utah Supreme Court to stop the state from printing ballots until it rules on a case in which Lyman is urging justices to oust Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who is the state’s top elections official, from office and eliminate them from the November ballot. If Lyman prevails, U.S. Rep. John Curtis — who is running for Senate — would be removed from the ballot, too.
Lyman contends that the party’s nominees for top offices should be those who received more than 60% of delegate support at the Utah Republican Party’s nominating convention in April and not those chosen by more than 425,000 Republican voters in the June primary election.
In a news release Monday, Lyman accuses Henderson of “malfeasance in office for creating a counterfeit ballot,” which is a third-degree felony.
At convention, Lyman secured a little over two-thirds of delegates’ support, beating Cox, who landed on the ballot by gathering more than 28,000 signatures from voters. Cox emerged from the primary with 54.4% of Republican votes.
Delegates who participate in the convention process tend to lean further to the right than the state’s larger Republican electorate.
Natalie Clawson, who is running to be lieutenant governor on Lyman’s ticket, is attempting in a separate lawsuit to appeal a judge’s decision to reject an emergency request to view the signatures Cox’s campaign collected to qualify for the ballot with the hope of invalidating his candidacy. The Lyman campaign began raising questions about the signatures shortly before the June primary, and took the issue to court after public records requests for the signatures were denied.
“Plaintiffs’ generalized allegations of harm to ‘transparency’ or ‘integrity’ in the primary election process are insufficiently vague,” 3rd District Judge Stephen Nelson wrote in rejecting Clawson’s request.
Before the lawsuit, Lyman also attempted to use his position as a state lawmaker to obtain the private voter data.
The deadline for Lyman to declare write-in candidacy is Sept. 3 at 5 p.m.
Matt Lusty, Cox’s campaign manager, said that Lyman’s write-in bid “only demonstrates his own doubts about that legal challenge and shows a willingness to help Democrats in the November Election.”
Lusty said that Cox’s 40,000-vote victory over Lyman shows that “Cox has the trust of Utah voters and will continue a strong campaign in the upcoming general election against a liberal Democrat who wants to turn Utah into Gavin Newsom’s California.”
Cox is being challenged by Democratic state Rep. Brian King.
A political action committee backing Cox has sent texts to Republican voters asking them to write to Lyman and ask him to drop the case against Axson and the state party, “and accept the primary election results,” saying it is “forcing the Utah GOP to spend precious dollars defending itself against his baseless lawsuit. Wouldn’t those dollars be better spent against liberal Democrats?”
Utah Republican Party Chair Robert Axson said, “We’re in a fine place [financially] as a party, but this type of distraction is not helpful, and the Republican Party is going to be focused on winning races.”
Lyman’s write-in campaign would likely sap votes from Cox and benefit King, but Lyman told The Tribune he would prefer a King win over Cox.
“Certainly any candidate can avail themselves of the law to [run as a write-in candidate], but he will be doing that without the Republican Party’s support. He is not our nominee,” said Axson, who is being sued in the case in front of the Utah Supreme Court. Axson continued, “Once the primary occurs, then that is our nominee, and we are are moving forward with that according to our rules and the law.”
After a Democratic politico quoted Lyman’s write-in announcement with a laser eyes meme of King, saying, “He’s just getting started,” Lyman reposted it saying it was the pair “practicing #DisagreeBetter,” a campaign urging civil discourse that Cox championed while heading the National Governors Association.
In a statement shared with The Tribune, King said, “If you feel that your party has left you, there is a place for you in our campaign.”
Lyman’s campaign has for months now worked to undermine the results of June’s primary election — starting before it even took place.
Speaking to reporters after a debate two weeks before polls closed, he responded to a question asking whether he would honor the electoral outcome saying, “I will say this: I will be checking the results of the election.” And on election night, Lyman refused to concede.
Update • Aug. 12, 5:45 p.m.: This story has been updated to add comments from Utah Republican Party Chair Robert Axson.
