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- Phil Lyman held a rally with supporters, challenging the legitimacy of Gov. Spencer Cox's candidacy and urging against certifying the 2024 gubernatorial election results.
- Lyman referenced a legislative audit to support his claims, although the audit said Cox met ballot access requirements, despite some signature verification errors.
- Lyman, who lost the GOP primary to Cox, has launched multiple unsuccessful legal challenges and said he plans to pursue further lawsuits.
SALT LAKE CITY — About 200 Phil Lyman supporters braved the rain Thursday to rally outside of the state Capitol in support of the candidate's write-in campaign for governor.
Lyman, a state representative from Blanding, riled up the crowd — many of whom traveled several hours from central or southern Utah to attend — by claiming a recent legislative audit vindicates his refusal to acknowledge Gov. Spencer Cox as the Republican nominee for governor. He went on to urge his supporters to write their legislators in opposition to the certification of the Nov. 5 election unless his concerns are resolved.
"Contact your legislators," he said. "Let them know that they should not support the certification of this election unless we get these things resolved. Let them know that there's nothing wrong with saying that Spencer Cox is a disqualified candidate."
It's unclear what resolution Lyman would support, as Cox was certified the winner of the Republican primary and courts have rejected efforts to remove the governor from the general election ballot. Cox has not been disqualified, and the audit Lyman referenced concluded that Cox and two other Republican candidates met ballot access requirements, despite finding some errors with the signature verification process.
"Candidates fulfilled the requirements that were given to them," the audit states. "Our audit work was conducted to improve the signature verification process moving forward. There are formal processes in place to qualify or disqualify candidates from the ballot; this audit is not part of those official processes."
Lyman has pursued those processes through several lawsuits filed over the summer, including a petition with the Utah Supreme Court asking that Cox be thrown out of office — but the courts have rebuffed those efforts. He told reporters Thursday that more lawsuits could be coming.
"I think we'll have another one coming up and probably three or four more," he said, when asked about further litigation.
Although Cox beat Lyman in the GOP primary by more than 37,000 votes, Lyman claims the governor was "on the ballot fraudulently" and questioned — without evidence — the official results of that election.
His supporters shared the same doubts and many wished that Cox would be kicked off the general election ballot. Rallygoers chanted for Cox to resign and one loudly proclaimed that the governor should be jailed.
Many said they weren't concerned about possibly disenfranchising the more than 230,000 Utahns who voted for Cox in the primary election because they didn't believe those results.
"I'm not even sure that's real," West Jordan resident Mary Clark said of the vote tallies. "They have ways of committing fraud, honestly. I don't even trust that. I can't believe there's 70% of this state that voted for someone like (Cox)."
Cox beat Lyman in June with 54.4% of the vote. He earned just shy of 63% of the vote in the 2020 general election against Democrat Chris Peterson.
Lyman urged his supporters to continue to promote his write-in campaign ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
"This is not a hateful thing," he said. "This is standing up for people."
