Republican Governor Spencer Cox of Fairview, Utah, has come under fire during his first term in office despite a 63% approval rating. Perhaps more surprising than the criticism of the local media and Utah Democrats is the backlash he has faced from certain factions of his own party.
In an already tumultuous election cycle, local politics have not entirely avoided the high emotions and heated races that were expected at the national level. An eventful state convention for the Utah GOP highlighted the elevated tensions among Utah GOP. Spencer Cox faced three convention opponents, the most prominent being Phil Lyman, a state legislator and former county commissioner of San Juan County. Lyman, who enjoyed tremendous support among state delegates despite his unpopularity with the majority of Utah GOP voters, won the majority of delegate support at the convention and earned a spot on the primary ballot. In June, Utah Republican voters resoundingly chose Governor Cox in the primary election, securing the Governor’s nomination as the Republican candidate for governor once again. In November, he will face off against Brian King, a radical Democrat.
Throughout the race, Lyman repeatedly attacked Cox, accusing him of being “woke” or a “RINO” (Republican in Name Only). To someone following the race closely, some of those attacks may have seemed bizarre. Governor Cox’s record is among the most conservative in the country, and he’s certainly the most conservative governor that Utah has ever had. His list of accomplishments is lengthy: he passed a constitutional carry law, enacted the largest tax cuts in Utah history (with the eventual goal of eliminating state income tax), signed the most pro-life legislation in state history, has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Biden-Harris administration, took back state land from the federal government, and sent troops to the border to help Governor Greg Abbott of Texas try to slow illegal immigration – doing much more than our sitting President and Vice President to repair the border crisis. Despite the economic challenges brought on by the Biden Administration, Utah is in much better shape than many of its neighbors and was ranked as the best state in the country for two years in a row by U.S. News and World Report. As the cherry on top of all of these accomplishments, it was pleasing to see that Governor Cox endorsed President Trump in his campaign to take back the White House and wrote a beautiful letter to him in solidarity after the first assassination attempt.
With so many conservative accomplishments, what has been the controversy about Cox among some conservatives? When asking critics of the Governor why they don’t support him, the thing most commonly brought up is his veto of a bill banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. Admittedly, this seems off-putting for most conservatives at first glance. But the big headlines about the subject are designed by the media to spin up controversy and divide the Republican Party. Perhaps the situation should be afforded another look.
The transgender issue has long been a controversial one. As the legislature sought to navigate the problem and produce legislation that would protect women in sports, Governor Cox worked with state representatives and met with a number of influential people to come up with an effective bill that would protect women and not cost too much taxpayer money or initiate challenges in court. The legislature created a great bill with a lot of public input and support. Governor Cox was ready to sign it. However, last-minute changes were made right before it was passed, with no public input, and the bill was drastically altered before it came to the governor’s desk. Governor Cox explained his veto in a lengthy letter, which you can read here. He explains:
“I believe in fairness and protecting the integrity of women’s sports. I know both of you are committed to these same ideals and that we have worked very hard together to resolve the many issues surrounding transgender student participation in sports. Unfortunately, HB11 has several fundamental flaws and should be reconsidered. Because the bill was substantially changed in the final hours of the legislative session with no public input and in a way that will likely bankrupt the Utah High School Athletic Association and result in millions of dollars in legal fees for local school districts with no state protection, and for several other reasons below, I have chosen to veto this bill.”
Now, the state legislature overturned the veto and it became law anyway. And whether or not you agree with Governor Cox’s decision to veto the bill, there are clearly some valid concerns with the process involved.
Some may criticize Governor Cox for “flip-flopping,” given his recent support of Utah State University forfeiting their volleyball game against San Jose State due to a transgender woman playing. However, this is consistent with what the Governor has always maintained- that we must protect women in their sports. He was fully prepared to sign that bill in Utah if it was reworked to fix the flaws, but the veto was overridden instead. And that’s okay! This is why our government is set up the way it is, with a system of checks and balances.
Governor Cox originally ran as the right-wing candidate for Governor against centrist Jon Huntsman Jr. The media is quick to paint Governor Cox as a moderate in hopes of splitting the Republican party and providing a path to victory for Democrat Brian King. Contrary to the media narrative, Governor Cox and Phil Lyman appeared nearly identical on most issues during their debate earlier this year. Funnily enough, the most major disagreement may have been on the Olympics, of all things. But the media thrives off of division and contention, and they delight in the internal factions that they are trying to create in the Utah GOP.
Republicans must unite behind the party nominees in November. In a traditionally red state, the only hope Democrats have of a victory is to peel off votes away from the Republican nominees through voters who write in different candidates. The time to bicker about primary elections ended in June.
Written by: Samuel Jacobs
Guest Contributor at the Cougar Chronicle
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Cover Photo Source: https://www.upr.org/utah-news/2022-10-20/gov-cox-commends-washington-county-on-its-efforts-to-conserve-water
Lmfao, biased article with no thoughts on the people actually affected 🙁
“Just wear a d*mn mask”
“My pronouns are he/him”
Every one of Cox’s “achievements” were passed with veto-proof supermajorities. Housing is through the roof. Literally 1 in 50 Sudanese (all refugees or children of refugees) is sitting in SL County Jail for murder. What has governor Cox done to assure no more of them come to Utah? Salt Lake City is falling off a cliff in terms of cleanliness and “feeling like Utah”, what has he done to stop that? What has he done to ensure greater integrity of elections? What has he done to make sure Utah is actually good for people who have lived here for decades and their children? Make housing more expensive?
Why does he seem more at home on CNN than at his own state’s GOP convention?
I’m writing in Phil Lyman because Utah is quite obviously declining in ways that matter for me and my family and Spencer Cocks refuses to do anything about it.