As a strong supporter of the caucus/convention nominating system for political candidates in Utah, I am the candidate running for governor who didn’t seek to gather signatures and I believe passionately in a political party’s right to determine its own nominees. 

I will be putting my full faith in the delegates and, as your governor, I’ll lead the fight to repeal SB 54.

Back in 2014 there was an initiative that was gaining ground gathering signatures by asking people if they’d like 4,000 people to pick the next senator or governor or if they would like a vote in that process. It was a false premise but a real threat, and would have permanently removed the caucus/convention cycle from our election system. In order to keep this from happening, we came with a compromise to preserve the right of parties to continue operating with the caucus/convention system. I believed the courts would agree that political parties have the right to select their own nominees but to this point, that hasn’t happened. When we had an opportunity for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court and finally put the issue to rest, the Herbert-Cox administration refused to support a hearing.

It’s time to repeal SB 54 and preserve the system that has served Utah so well.