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SALT LAKE CITY — State Rep. Phil Lyman is asking Utah's top court to kick Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson out of office and make him the Republican gubernatorial nominee after losing to the incumbent governor in the June 25 primary.
Lyman, a Republican from Blanding, filed a request for extraordinary writ with the Utah Supreme Court late Thursday, challenging the state's law allowing a dual path to the primary ballot. Lyman qualified by winning the delegate vote at the GOP nominating convention in April, while Cox collected signatures to qualify — both of which are valid under Utah law.
But Lyman — who is acting as his own counsel in the filing — contends he is the rightful GOP nominee because he earned more than 60% of the delegate vote. His lawsuit cites Utah election code §20A-9-401 on primary elections, which states: "This part may not be construed to govern or regulate the internal procedures of a registered political party."
Cox's campaign manager said the lawsuit would "blatantly disregard the will of more than 400,000 Utah Republican voters" who voted in the primary. More than 232,000 of those voters picked Cox.
"Rep. Lyman's attempt to undo a democratic election rather than honor the will of the people is not just sad, but dangerous," Matt Lusty said. "It's the kind of action you see in a banana republic and not the United States of America. Half the candidates in the primary election lost. In our proud American tradition, almost all of them did so with grace and poise. We encourage Mr. Lyman and his camp to do the same."
Lyman argues that because the state party bylaws consider any convention candidate who receives at least 60% of the vote the party's candidate, Cox was ineligible.
"Although SB54 created two paths to the primary election," the complaint says, "it did not change the internal procedures of the party that if a single candidate achieves over 60% of the caucus vote, that candidate is certified to the state for placement on the general election ballot, and no primary is held for that office."
Utah code §20A-9-409, however, states: "A qualified political party that nominates one or more candidates for an elective office" using the convention system," and has one or more candidates qualify as a candidate for that office" by gathering signatures, "shall participate in the primary election for that office."
The lawsuit asks the court to toss out the June 25 primary election results — which Cox won by more than 37,000 votes — and place Lyman on the November general election ballot. It also accuses Cox and Henderson of "malfeasance" in allowing Cox on the primary ballot and seeks to remove them from office and appoint Utah Senate President Stuart Adams to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the governor's term.
"Petitioner Lyman achieved over 60% of the caucus vote and should be certified to the state for placement on the general election ballot to be held on Nov. 5, 2024," the complaint states. "The primary election held for the office of the governor on June 25, 2024, was improperly conducted for the office of governor and lieutenant governor and should be set aside because the improper conduct will change the result for that office."
Lyman's complaint also seeks to invalidate the primary results across the state for any race where a convention candidate earned at least 60% of the vote, which would also throw out the results for Rep. John Curtis, who won the race for U.S. Senate by 67,951 votes over convention winner and Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs.
Lyman did not respond to a request for comment but reposted Cox's campaign statement saying Lyman should accept his loss with grace and poise on X and said: "Lol."
"Or you could allow for independent verification of your signatures and allow simple access to the most basic election results," he said in another post. "It seems the Cox administration will do anything but the easy thing of opening the record."
A spokesman for the lieutenant governor's office declined to comment on the case, citing a policy of not weighing in publicly on ongoing litigation.
The Utah Republican Party and its chairman, Rob Axson, are also named in the complaint as defendants. Lyman asks the court to compel the party to certify him as the GOP nominee because of his win at convention, force the party to turn over delegate information to his campaign and "communicate ... to all party members, delegates, and party leadership regarding the error."
After the lawsuit was filed, Associate Chief Justice John Pearce recused himself in participating in the case and will be replaced by a judge from another court. Pearce was appointed by then-Gov. Gary Herbert in 2016.
Lyman has delayed conceding to Cox since Cox was projected to win on election night, saying he wanted to wait until all of the votes were counted. Even after the official county and statewide canvasses, he has continued to sow doubt about the results.
He has questioned the validity of the signatures Cox collected to qualify and has sought to obtain signature lists and the complete 2024 Utah voter rolls. The State Records Committee last month denied a request from his campaign to obtain ballot petition signatures from a state Senate candidate collected in Washington County, citing an ongoing investigation into the company that collected the signatures.
The lawsuit isn't the first time SB54 — which created the dual path to the primary ballot in 2014 — has been challenged. The Utah Republican Party unsuccessfully sued over the bill after it was passed, resulting in years of litigation through which the party incurred hundreds of thousands in legal fees.
Some party members dislike the signature-gathering path, as the candidates elected by the small number of delegates often underperform with the broader GOP electorate, as was the case with the majority of major races this year. Calls to overturn SB54 have continued since its passage, including from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who in June said, "We MUST repeal SB54. It puts libs inside our party. Time to kick them out."
