Gov. Spencer Cox kicked off his second term Wednesday with a ceremonial inaugural event, crediting the character of the people of Utah for what the state has accomplished and saying he is confident they will make Utah a leader going forward.
“Utah is not number one because of our government,” he said. “We are number one because of our people.”
The governor touted the state’s accomplishments during his first term — pay raises for teachers, the largest tax cut in history, taking “the fight to social media companies” through litigation and landing the 2034 Winter Olympic Games. But, he said, those achievements are the result of Utah’s “social capital,” which comes from its families, congregations, neighborhoods and volunteer groups, not government.
“If we want to continue to cut taxes, create jobs, build infrastructure, lift people out of poverty and make the American Dream a reality for the next generation, we need more of it,” he said.
The Republican governor, alongside other statewide officials — Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, new Attorney General Derek Brown, Treasurer Marlo Oaks and Auditor Tina Cannon — took a ceremonial oath of office Wednesday, as well. All of the state officials took the official oath in private ceremonies Monday.
The event, held at the Eccles Theater in downtown Salt Lake City, was a far cry from Cox’s first inaugural, which, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, was held outdoors and socially distanced in southern Utah. Traditionally, inaugurations have been held in the Capitol rotunda, except for in 2005 when, with the Capitol undergoing renovations, Gov. Jon Huntsman was sworn in at the territorial statehouse in Fillmore.
As an example of Utah’s social capital, Cox recalled five couples who helped raise him after his parents divorced when he was 10, leaving him “angry and scared and lost and profoundly sad. There were many times when I thought the world would be a better place without me.”
Those five couples — his neighbors, Blake and Terry Madsen; his step-aunt and uncle, Corey and Lois Anderson; his high school English and music teacher, Roy Ellefsen; his church and scout leaders, John and Colleen Perry; and his family’s closest friends, George and Peggy Bench — “sacrificed and fought for me, even when I didn’t deserve it — and I mostly didn’t deserve it.”
“With marriage rates down worldwide, births at an all-time low, deaths of despair at an all-time high and a sense of community vanishing across much of the western world, Utah must stand tall as that shining city on a hill. We must be different,” Cox said.
“There is no government program we can create or law we can pass that will solve these problems. Some may try and inevitably fail in that process,” he said. “There is only one true solution. And it begins within the walls of our homes and extends to our neighbors.”
Cox’s message was echoed by Henderson, his lieutenant governor, who said that “Utahns are good people who don’t just understand the importance of community, but live it every day.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox gives his inaugural address during his inauguration ceremony in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
Cox won reelection in November, beating Democratic nominee Brian King and staving off a write-in campaign by fellow Republican Phil Lyman, who has made unsubstantiated assertions of election fraud and continued to assail the incumbent on social media as being insufficiently conservative.
Lyman’s write-in campaign garnered more votes than any other write-in candidate in history and he has refused to concede defeat, pursuing a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and asking the justices for a ruling that would invalidate Cox’s election. The justices are scheduled to meet Friday to decide whether to hear arguments in the case, but the court hears about 1 in every 100 cases filed and has already refused to block Cox’s inauguration. Cox’s attorneys did not bother to file a response to Lyman’s suit, believing it to be frivolous.
“I haven’t given it a second thought. No,” Cox told reporters Wednesday. “That’s not a thing.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Three helicopters from the Utah National Guard fly over the The George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater following the inauguration ceremony for Gov. Spencer Cox in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
The governor has been categorical that he will not run for another term in 2028, saying there are plenty of people in the state who can do the job.
“What happens so often is that when people feel like like no one else can do these jobs, like we’re too important ... we start to be someone we’re not,” Cox told reporters after the ceremony. “We start making every decision based on making sure I get to stay in office instead of just who I am. I’ve told people you don’t like me, that’s okay. It’s fine. You know, vote for someone else. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
He said that’s one of the things he has given credit to President-elect Donald Trump for: that he doesn’t change who he is, regardless of whether people love him or hate him.
In his final four years, Cox has said he wants to deliver on “Operation Gigawatt,” his goal of doubling Utah’s energy production, partly to meet the demands of artificial intelligence computing. He aims to tap into an array of resources, and has asked for money in his budget proposal to help expand geothermal energy and to attract nuclear power to the state for the first time.
He also aims to rein in rising housing costs by building 35,000 starter homes by 2030. Utah’s housing market has not kept pace with the rapid growth, leading to spikes in prices — although home costs have eased in recent years.
“The idea behind everything is about building again,” Cox said. “We believe in an abundance agenda that we don’t have to choose between saving our precious resources that make Utah great and being one of the fastest growing states in the nation. We believe that we can raise the quality of life.”
