- Rob Axson was reelected chair of the Utah Republican Party with 52% of the delegate vote.
- Phil Lyman lost his bid for chair after transitioning from a campaign for governor.
- Delegates rejected an amendment that would penalize candidates who gather signatures.
Utah Republican Party Chair Rob Axson defeated former gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman to secure reelection as leader of the state GOP during the party’s Saturday convention.
A majority of the 2,560 delegates repeatedly voted against taking a more combative approach to party politics, including by rejecting an amendment that would have penalized signature gathering candidates.
Axson received 1,340 votes compared to the 1,215 received by Lyman. Axson’s winning vote share of 52.4% highlighted the existing division among party delegates over the 2024 gubernatorial election and the direction the party should take.
Axson made party unity the core of his message to delegates, emphasizing his endorsements from President Donald Trump, Utah Sen. Mike Lee and other party leaders as evidence of his ability to create successful coalitions.
Trump celebrated Axson’s win in a social media post on Truth Social Saturday.
“It’s time to build,” Axson said after the election results were announced. “We’ve got to be building something that is of value to our fellow Utahns. I’m committed to doing that with all Republicans.”
Focus on SB54
Throughout the convention, delegates returned to last year’s race between Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Lyman, rehashing Lyman’s victory among delegates at the convention followed by Cox’s victory in the primary election among all of Utah’s registered Republicans.
At the heart of these complaints was Utah’s 10-year-old election law requiring the state’s major parties to recognize a signature gathering path to qualify for the primary ballot. Axson and Lyman both believe the law, known as SB54, should be eliminated but disagree on how.
“We must repeal SB54 but we cannot unless we are united. We can’t beat SB54 if we spend all of our time beating one another,” Axson said during his prepared speech. “But there is a clear difference between me and others: I am not willing to break the law.”
In transitioning from his campaign for governor to one for GOP chair, Lyman made his top priority putting an end to the party’s dual-pathway to the primary ballot as required under state law.
On Tuesday, Lyman said this could be done through “nullification,” a theory that argues that laws deemed unconstitutional can be ignored.
“The Utah GOP believes that it is subject to the legislature. It is not,” Lyman said in his campaign materials passed out to delegates. “We are a private organization with all the rights of association.”
Axson has maintained that SB54 must be repealed by the Legislature for the party to take action. He said the state House already has the votes to overturn the law but that there is insufficient support in the state Senate.
After taking the stage to introduce Axson, Lee spoke to delegates a second time, asking Cox to return the state to a caucus-only nomination system.
“Mr. Governor, I implore you, tear down that wall,” Lee said. “I ask you to convene a special legislative session as soon as possible, bring together the Legislature and ask the Legislature to restore the caucus and convention system.”
Delegates amended party rules on Saturday to support the caucus-convention system while rejecting a change that would penalize candidates who gather signatures.
A majority of delegates voted to remove a proposed constitutional amendment from the agenda that would have revoked the party membership of a candidate who sought the primary ballot by gathering signatures.
However, delegates voted in favor of a resolution that would allow Republican votes cast for Lyman as a write-in candidate during the 2024 general election to be counted toward a calculation that apportions the number of GOP delegates for every county.
Delegates also supported an amendment that would insert language in the party platform in support of Utah’s unique caucus system based on neighborhood precincts and delegate conventions.
What did Lyman say?
Lyman’s speech reflected on his entrance into politics, interpreted a biblical parable and compared the party’s political climate to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
“You can say we’re not going to have any of that in this day and age, we’re not subject to the Salem witch trials, but I will tell you, as I have looked through the social media posts, and just like the Salem witch trials, these girls who felt like they had been afflicted by a specter,” Lyman said. “When I look at social media, I see the same kind of feeling, people telling horrific stories about how they’ve been afflicted by the specter, usually the specter of Casey Gale, by the way.”
This so-called “specter” — which Lyman suggested was not a real source of concern — was divisiveness coming from some Lyman supporters, particularly one “Casey Gale,” Lyman told delegates.
Lyman hired Gale as a campaign consultant during his gubernatorial bid, paying him $20,000 for his services, according to public documents.
But in his work as one of Lyman’s most public and prolific supporters, Gale has come to be known among delegates as a personally threatening force in Utah politics.
Over the previous few months, Gale insulted dozens of conservative delegates in the state in social media posts viewed by the Deseret News, calling them names like “cowardly do nothing RINO,” and “leftist psycho neoconservative.”
In a free country, people should be able to say what they believe, Gale told the Deseret News, saying he still stood by his comments.
On Friday, Gale posted on X that, “Only the RINOs don’t like party purity tests.”
Lyman closed his speech with his own call for unity, saying he would stand behind Axson, Trump and Lee despite their differences on the election.
What does it mean for the party going forward?
For Jeff Schoell, a state delegate from Uintah County, Lyman’s loss represents a fundamental setback for Utah conservatives seeking to root out “corruption” in the government.
Axson was not vocal enough in criticizing weaknesses in the election system or demanding transparency from public officials, according to Schoell, who said Lyman’s campaign highlighted needed changes to the system.
“All that corruption would never have been exposed if it hadn’t been for his efforts to fight for what was right,” Schoell said.
As for Bill Hoster, the mayor of Leeds, Saturday’s election represented a divide over how to treat people in the party who disagree with one another.
He said he voted for Axson because he had developed the relationship with delegates, legislators and the governor to get things done for the party.
“We can’t have someone in there throwing grenades and separating people from the party who don’t march in step with others who have similar opinions,” Hoster said.
Axson, as well as party secretary Stafford Palmieri Sievert — who was also reelected — emphasized that during his first term the party raised record amounts of money, gave record amounts to convention nominees and supported the national Republican Party with an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effort.
But, according to Axson, the role of the chair must focus on investing in the infrastructure for future generations of conservatives, not just on the next election cycle.
“Strength comes from learning and it comes from building, not through burning,” Axson said. ”We must find converts to the cause, rather than chasing away people through purity tests. Utah needs this party to be firm, and it needs it to be united.”