Within months of longtime state Sen. Daniel Thatcher of West Valley City resigning from the Republican Party in favor of the centrist Forward Party, he announced he would leave the Utah Legislature altogether. The young political party chose Thatcher’s successor, Emily Buss of Eagle Mountain, Thursday evening.
Buss was chosen in a poll the Utah Forward Party opened to all voters in Senate District 11, garnering 47% of the “approvals” in the five-way race. The election, conducted online, in person and via mail, allowed registered voters to approve of multiple candidates. According to a news release from the Forward Party, 1,324 people participated in the replacement poll.
Under Utah law, when a lawmaker leaves office mid-term, the governor appoints a replacement chosen by the outgoing legislator’s political party.
So Thatcher’s partisan conversion at the end of last legislative session ensured the Utah Republican Party — which he has publicly clashed with — would not be able to pick another, more conservative, senator after he announced he would step down in October.
Third-party state lawmakers are rare not just in Utah, but nationwide.
Thatcher was just the second third-party member of the Utah Legislature — the first was former Sen. Mark Madsen, who defected from the GOP to become a Libertarian in 2016 for the remainder of his term, which ended that year. Once sworn in, Buss will become the third.
To read Emily Anderson Stern and Addy Baird's full report visit sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.