An incumbent who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump? Or a challenger who paints himself as the “Make Utah Great Again” candidate?
Some 4,000 Utah Republican Party delegates will elect their next leader during their state organizing convention on Saturday at Utah Valley University in Orem.
Their decision will have major implications for the future direction of the Utah GOP, and it’s sure to stir heated debate between two factions within the party — those who like the direction the party has already been heading under incumbent Chair Rob Axson versus anti-establishment conservatives who are fans of former state lawmaker and failed gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman.
Lyman is likely to get a warm reception from delegates, who handed him the party’s nomination in his bid for governor with 67.5% of the vote during last year’s nominating convention. But because Gov. Spencer Cox used the state’s other option to get his name on the ballot as a Republican by gathering signatures, Cox and Lyman both qualified for the GOP primary, which Lyman lost. He still didn’t give up, continuing his bid in the general election as an unaffiliated write-in candidate, which he also lost — however, he captured more than 13.5% of the vote, which was the most ever seen for a write-in bid.
But Axson, who has served as Utah GOP chair since 2023, got a major boost when Trump endorsed him in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, with just over a week to go before the convention.
Axson has also been endorsed by other Utah Republican Party heavyweights including Sen. Mike Lee, who called him in a post on X “one of the most effective state party chairmen we’ve ever had in Utah, he’s one of the best in the entire country.”
“He’s uniformly respected and admired as a member of the RNC,” Lee added. “He’s an unusually dedicated, talented, and energetic person. I’ve known and worked closely with him throughout the last 16 years, and he’s one of the most decent people I’ve ever known.”
Lyman — who is championing a “MUGA” slogan, often mirrors Trump’s style and was even pardoned by Trump back in 2020 for leading an illegal ATV protest on federal lands — shrugged off Trump’s endorsement of his opponent.
“Reminder – MAGA is about America – and I love it,” Lyman wrote in a post on X. “My support for Donald Trump is not contingent on his support for me. We have work to do. Oh, and Cox cheated.”
Lyman also continues to refuse to accept that Cox legally won the election, even though Lyman and his team have lost every single court challenge. Throughout both his campaigns for governor and Utah GOP chair, Lyman has also catered largely to a faction of Utah Republicans who continue to despise SB54, the 2014 law that set a dual path to the primary ballot through both the caucus and convention system and through signature gathering.
After more than 10 years, SB54 has survived years of court challenges — to the point of almost bankrupting the Utah GOP. But angst over SB54 persists, and it’s one of the biggest wedges dividing Utah Republicans.
That angst is sure to boil up again Saturday in more ways than one.
Read the full report at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
