The Utah Supreme Court dismissed Republican gubernatorial hopeful Phil Lyman’s attempt to have Gov. Spencer Cox thrown off the ballot and out of office and instead make Lyman the GOP’s candidate for governor.
The justices dispensed with Lyman’s last-ditch lawsuit in a six-page order Tuesday evening — issued without asking for a response from the state or Cox’s campaign or hearing oral arguments — finding Lyman had failed to state a legal claim or factual basis for his demands.
“His request is based on a view that the Republican Party’s internal rules trump Utah’s election laws, a claim we rejected [previously],” Chief Justice Matthew Durrant wrote for the state’s high court.
Lyman, acting as his own lawyer, had argued that Utah Republican Party bylaws dictate that a candidate who gets over 60% at the state nominating convention becomes the GOP’s nominee. Cox gathered signatures to qualify for the primary ballot, but Lyman said that path is invalid and Cox should be disqualified.
Lyman — Supreme Court Refusal by Robert Gehrke on Scribd
Cox beat Lyman by nearly 40,000 votes in June’s Republican primary. Had Lyman prevailed in his suit, John Curtis, who won the U.S. Senate primary, could have been excluded and replaced by Trent Staggs, who prevailed at convention. It may have impacted attorney general candidate Derek Brown, as well, since Brown lost at the convention but captured the primary.
Lyman contended in a subsequent filing that, because Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, the state’s top elections officer, put him on the ballot, she had created a counterfeit ballot, which would be a felony, and that she and Cox should be removed from office for “malfeasance” and replaced by Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton.
The court refused the request because, it said, Lyman “has offered no viable factual or legal basis for the remedy he requests.”
In a statement Tuesday night, Henderson blasted Lyman’s “frivolous lawsuit.”
“For all his talk of election integrity, Phil Lyman is the only candidate in the state who has actively tried to steal an election by demanding that the Supreme Court crown him the victor of a race he soundly lost,” she said. “Every Utahn should be appalled by Lyman’s shameful disregard for the rule of law, the state constitution, and the will of the voters. In America, we don’t win elections through the courts — we win or lose at the ballot box.”
Lyman did not comment on the court ruling Tuesday evening.
Lyman said this week that if his appeal to the Supreme Court failed, he would run as a write-in candidate, posting his intent on several social media posts and telling The Salt Lake Tribune on Monday that “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 acknowledged that his entry into the race could split the conservative vote and give Democrat Brian King, a state representative from Salt Lake City, a chance at winning, but he said he would rather King win than Cox.
The law gives Lyman until Sept. 3 to file as a write-in candidate. Ballots are sent for printing on Sept. 4.
Another lawsuit surrounding Lyman’s gubernatorial remains. Natalie Clawson, Lyman’s running mate for lieutenant governor, is suing to obtain the signatures that Cox’s campaign gathered, hoping to invalidate his candidacy. Last month the State Records Committee upheld the decision by the state elections office to reject the request.
Lyman had asked the Supreme Court to order the signatures to be released as well, but the justices declined, noting the ongoing litigation in Clawson’s case.
Clarification • Aug. 14, 3:50 p.m.: The story has been updated to reflect that the deadline for write-in candidates to file is Sept. 3.