2024 Utah gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2024 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2024 Utah gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2024, to elect the governor of Utah, concurrently with the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Spencer Cox won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic nominee, state Representative Brian King and Republican state Representative Phil Lyman, who ran as a write-in candidate after being defeated in the Republican primary.^[1] Primary elections took place on June 25, 2024.^[2] This was the smallest percent of the vote by a winning Republican since the 1992 election, which also saw a major independent candidate. Cox's 24.43% margin of victory was also the smallest since 2004.

2024 Utah gubernatorial election

← 2020 November 5, 2024 2028 →

Nominee Spencer Cox Brian King Phil Lyman (write-in) Party Republican Democratic Independent Republican Running mate Deidre Henderson Rebekah Cummings Natalie Clawson (write-in) Popular vote 781,431 420,514 200,551 Percentage 52.89% 28.46% 13.57%

County results Cox:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% King:      40–50%

Governor before election Spencer Cox Republican Elected Governor Spencer Cox Republican

Background

Utah is considered to be a strongly red state at the federal and state levels: Republicans control all statewide executive offices, the entire congressional delegation, and supermajorities in both state legislative chambers. In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump carried Utah by 20.5 percentage points.^[3][4]

Cox was first elected in 2020, defeating Christopher Peterson by 32.65 points.^[5]

Republican primary

Incumbent Republican governor Spencer Cox faced criticism from many conservatives for his moderate political positions, including his veto of HB11,^[6] and opposition to former president Donald Trump.^[7] Cox was booed at the Utah Republican state convention in April 2024.^[8] He faced a primary challenge from state representative Phil Lyman, who won over 67% of the vote at the convention.^[9] However, Cox collected enough signatures to appear on the primary ballot. Cox consistently led Lyman in polls and won re-nomination, though Lyman refused to concede.^[10][11]

Candidates

Nominee

• Spencer Cox, incumbent governor^[12]
  • Running mate: Deidre Henderson, incumbent lieutenant governor^[12]

Eliminated in primary

• Phil Lyman, state representative^[13]
  • Running mate: Natalie Clawson, attorney^[14]
  • Previous running mate: Layne Bangerter, former special assistant to the president^[15]

Eliminated at convention

• Sylvia Miera-Fisk, commercial pilot^[13]
• Carson Jorgensen, former chair of the Utah Republican Party (2021–2023) and candidate for Utah's 2nd congressional district in 2020^[13]
  • Running mate: Corrine Johnson, activist^[16]
• Scott Robbins, U.S. Marine Corps veteran^[13]

Declined

• Jason Chaffetz, former U.S. representative from Utah's 3rd congressional district (2009–2017)^[17]
• Robert O'Brien, former U.S. National Security Advisor (2019–2021)^[18][19]

Endorsements

Phil Lyman

Individuals

• Riley Gaines, competitive swimmer^[20]

Political parties

• Utah Republican Party^[13]

Organizations

• Eagle Forum^[21]

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports as of June 13, 2024
Candidate	Raised	Spent	Cash on hand
Spencer Cox (R)	$1,263,235	$2,142,975	$645,543
Phil Lyman (R)	$1,408,004	$1,051,850	$356,153
Source: State of Utah Financial Disclosures[22]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Spencer Cox	Phil Lyman	Other	Undecided
Noble Predictive Insights[23]	June 20–21, 2024	432 (LV)	± 4.7%	55%	42%	2%[b]	1%
HarrisX[24][A]	June 4–7, 2024	477 (RV)	± 4.5%	62%	25%	–	12%
Noble Predictive Insights[25]	April 8–16, 2024	283 (RV)	± 5.8%	51%	4%	9%[c]	36%
Dan Jones & Associates[26]	January 16–21, 2024	428 (RV)	± 4.7%	50%	3%	11%[d]	37%

Results

Convention

Republican convention results
Candidate/Running mate	Round 1		Round 2
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Phil Lyman/Layne Bangerter	1663	44.24%	2495	67.54%
Spencer Cox/Deidre Henderson	1085	28.86%	1199	32.46%
Carson Jorgensen/Corrine Johnson	970	25.80%	Eliminated
Scott Robbins	21	0.56%	Eliminated
Sylvia Miera-Fisk	20	0.53%	Eliminated
Inactive Ballots	2 ballots		4 ballots

Debate

2024 Utah gubernatorial election Republican primary debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Republican
P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Cox	Lyman
1	Jun. 11, 2024	Utah Debate Commission	Carolina Ballard	YouTube	P	P

Primary

Results by county:

  Cox

•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Lyman

•   50–60%
•   70–80%

Republican primary results^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Spencer Cox (incumbent) Deidre Henderson (incumbent)	232,164	54.40%
	Republican	Phil Lyman Natalie Clawson	194,639	45.60%
Total votes			426,803	100.00%

Aftermath

Lyman later sued, claiming that the Republican convention was responsible for selecting the party's nominee and that the primary was illegal. The Utah Supreme Court rejected his argument.^[28] Lyman later announced that he would run as a write-in candidate.^[29]

Cox has since backed Trump after an assassination attempt made during a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, stating in a letter: "Your life was spared. Now, because of that miracle, you have the opportunity to do something that no other person on earth can do right now: unify and save our country."^[30] Cox also stated in a later news conference: “I am doing everything I can to help and support him...We will still have lots of disagreements, I’m sure, and we’ll still do everything we can to help the state of Utah and help the Republican Party be successful.”^[31]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Brian King, state representative from the 23rd district (2009–present) and former Minority Leader of the Utah House of Representatives (2015–2023)^[32]
  • Running mate: Rebekah Cummings, director of digital matters at the University of Utah^[33]

Endorsements

Brian King

Political parties

• Utah Democratic Party^[34]

Libertarian Party

Candidates

Nominee

• J. Robert Latham, attorney, nominee for lieutenant governor in 2012, and nominee for Utah's 2nd congressional district in 2020^[35]
  • Running mate: Barry Short, businessman, perennial candidate, and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2016 and 2020^[35]

Independent American Party

Candidates

Nominee

• Tommy Williams, perennial candidate and nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022^[35]
  • Running mate: Archie Williams, heavy equipment operator and perennial candidate^[35]

Independents

Candidates

Declared

• Tom Tomeny, businessman^[35]
  • Running mate: William Lansing Taylor, geologist^[35]

Other candidates

Republican write-in

• Phil Lyman, state representative^[36]
  • Running mate: Natalie Clawson^[35]

General election

Debates

2024 Utah gubernatorial election debates^[37]

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic	Libertarian	Write-in
P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Cox	King	Latham	Lyman
1	Sep. 11, 2024	Utah Debate Commission	Jason Perry	YouTube	P	P	P	N

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[38]	Solid R	July 13, 2024
Inside Elections[39]	Solid R	July 14, 2023
Sabato's Crystal Ball[40]	Safe R	June 4, 2024
RCP[41]	Solid R	July 13, 2024
Elections Daily[42]	Safe R	July 12, 2023
CNalysis[43]	Solid R	August 17, 2024

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports as of October 14, 2024
Candidate	Raised	Spent	Cash on hand
Spencer Cox (R)	$2,415,468	$3,782,382	$158,370
Brian King (D)	$632,080	$651,962	$24,436
Source: State of Utah Financial Disclosures[22]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Spencer Cox (R)	Brian King (D)	Robert Latham (L)	Tommy Williams (I)	Other	Undecided
Noble Predictive Insights[44]	October 25–28, 2024	695 (LV)	± 3.7%	43%	26%	3%	3%	18%[e]	6%
HarrisX[45][A]	October 15–19, 2024	813 (RV)	± 3.4%	51%	19%	3%	4%	2%[f]	22%
				61%	21%	4%	7%	6%[g]	–
Noble Predictive Insights[46]	October 2–7, 2024	539 (LV)	± 4.22%	54%	26%	–	–	–	20%
				49%	23%	2%	2%	5%[h]	19%
		600 (RV)	± 4.0%	52%	26%	–	–	–	21%
Public Policy Polling (D)[47][B]	September 27–28, 2024	612 (LV)	± 4.0%	45%	32%	–	–	–	23%
				35%	24%	3%	–	19%[i]	18%
Lighthouse Research[48][C]	August 29 – September 4, 2024	518 (RV)	± 4.31%	48%	27%	7%	4%	8%[j]	5%
HarrisX[49][A]	August 2–9, 2024	800 (RV)	± 3.5%	56%	17%	4%	6%	–	17%
				59%	19%	–	–	–	22%

Results

2024 Utah gubernatorial election^[50]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Spencer Cox (incumbent) Deidre Henderson (incumbent)	781,431	52.89%	−10.09
	Democratic	Brian King Rebekah Cummings	420,514	28.63%	−1.72
	Write-In	Phil Lyman Natalie Clawson	200,551	13.57%	N/A
	Libertarian	J. Robert Latham Barry Evan Short	41,164	2.79%	−0.73
	Independent American	Tommy Williams Archie Williams	27,480	1.86%	+0.09
	Independent	Tom Tomeny William Lansing Taylor	5,792	0.39%	N/A
	Write-In	Charlie Tautuaa Sylvia Miera Fisk	525	0.04%	N/A
Total votes			1,477,457	100.00%
	Republican hold

By congressional district

Cox won all four congressional districts.^[51]

District	Cox	King	Lyman	Representative
1st				Blake Moore
2nd				Celeste Maloy
3rd				John Curtis (118th Congress)
				Mike Kennedy (119th Congress)
4th				Burgess Owens

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. "Would not vote" with 2%
3. Scott Robbins with 4%; Sylvia Fisk with 3%; Carson Jorgenson with 2%
4. Scott Robbins with 5%; Sylvia Fisk and Carson Jorgenson with 3%
5. Lyman (Write-in) with 15%; "Refused" with 3%
6. Tomeny (I) with 2%
7. Tomeny (I) with 6%
8. Lyman (Write-in) with 5%
9. Lyman (Write-In) with 19%
10. Tomeny (I) with 2%

Partisan clients

1. Poll sponsored by the Deseret News and the University of Utah
2. Poll sponsored by Brian King's campaign
3. Poll sponsored by the Utah Debate Commission.