SALT LAKE CITY — Democrat Vaughn R. Cook formally announced Monday he's running for governor, calling himself more electable statewide than the other Democrat in the race, Mike Weinholtz.
That will likely be up to primary election voters to decide in June. Cook is gathering signatures for a place on the primary ballot, while Weinholtz is counting on delegates to the state Democratic Party convention to advance him to the runoff election.
Cook, a former Utah County Democratic Party chairman, said he hopes the competition will help voters see that "Democrats are not only a viable option, they are a critical option" at a time when Republicans hold a supermajority of offices.
The GOP has held the Utah governor's office since the mid-1980s. This election, Gov. Gary Herbert faces a primary challenge himself from fellow Republican Jonathan Johnson, chairman of Overstock.com.
Cook said Democrats need to overcome the perception that "the only candidates who represent the values of Utah voters and Utah residents are Republicans. It's a myth that all LDS people are Republicans. This has never been true."
Flanked by a pair of lifesize posters of himself, Cook said he believes his background gives him an advantage over Weinholtz, the co-founder of CHG Healthcare Services who jumped into the race in January.
"My family has been in this state for seven generations. I grew up here. I'm an active LDS. I have started businesses. I know the culture. I think I will be perceived more as an insider than he will be and probably more compatible with the general values of people throughout the state," Cook said.
Weinholtz said Cook "is certainly still welcome to the race. More voices leads to better debate, and a better debate is a net positive for Utah. I’m looking forward to it."
Cook said his campaign will focus on bettering education, personal prosperity and health care in the state.
A native of Logan, Cook said he is an Oriental medical doctor who uses needles, nutraceuticals, homeopathic remedies and herbs to treat patients. He said he is also a cancer survivor because of combining traditional and alternative therapies.
Richard Davis, a BYU political science professor and a former Utah County Democratic Party chairman who attended Cook's announcement, said there are pluses and minuses to multiple Democrats in the race.
"You do have two candidates who are going to be spending time, resources, effort" against each other, said Davis, who writes a column for the Deseret News. But in the long run, he said, there are advantages for the party.
"One is there's more publicity" with a primary election, he said. "That means there's going to be attention focused on whoever the Democratic nominee is. That typically doesn't happen."
Davis said the party benefits from the image that "it's a bigger tent, that there are conservative Democrats out there as well who are LDS." Even if Weinholtz wins, he said, voters may see Cook as a conservative Democrat who is "more like me."
Yándary Zavala, the Utah Democratic Party's communications director, said from the party's perspective, "it's great to have more than one Democratic candidate in the race. Having more options promotes debate."
Zavala said it also helps other Democrats on the ballot by encouraging "all wings of the party to vote this year," just as the party's presidential contest between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is doing.
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