Delegates from the Utah Republican Party are set to decide this weekend if their party will overhaul its primary process, signature requirements, and chairman.
More than 4,000 delegates will vote on an amendment that would change party rules to get rid of candidates who use signatures from voters to get on the ballot, according to Deseret News. More than 4,000 delegates will also vote on their new chairman, between former gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman and the incumbent chairman, Robert Axson.
Both have expressed support for President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, but the election represents a partywide disagreement about how to move forward.
Lyman’s campaign for the role is based on getting rid of so-called “RINOs” in the party and rejecting compromise. He is also planning to run for governor again in 2028.
The signature issue stems from Lyman beating incumbent Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) by a 2-1 margin from delegates at the party’s 2024 nominating convention. Cox’s campaign, however, gathered signatures to qualify for the Republican primary in June and flipped the outcome with voters, winning by nearly 40,000 votes.
At the time, Lyman asked the Utah Supreme Court to force Axson to ignore the primary results and make Lyman the party’s nominee. The justices refused the request.
Now, both candidates for party chairman are looking to eliminate one’s option to gather signatures to earn a spot in a primary election. There are disagreements on the proper course of action, however.
Axson is looking to lobby the state legislature to intervene. In 2014, the Utah state legislature passed a bill that allowed for both a party convention candidate nomination process and a signature-gathering path to qualify for primary elections.
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Lyman, meanwhile, wants the party to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of candidates who collect signatures.
Trump and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) endorsed Axson in the race for chairman. Trump previously pardoned Lyman for his conviction of leading an illegal ATV protest on federal lands with cultural importance to Native Americans.