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The State of the Utah Republican Party

State Rep. Phil Lyman at the 2024 Utah GOP Nominating Convention in Salt Lake City, April 27, 2024.
Sean Higgins
/
KUER
State Rep. Phil Lyman at the 2024 Utah GOP Nominating Convention in Salt Lake City, April 27, 2024.

Utah’s Republican conventions have always been rancorous and incredibly contentious. But according to one longtime observer, this year’s meeting was as nasty as it’s ever been.

Under his long watch, reporter Robert Gehrke says the Republican convention has gotten progressively noisier, rowdier and more vitriolic. This year, he says, “it hit the apex” when moderate Republican governor Spencer Cox was booed so severely, he strayed from his speech in order to call out the hecklers. Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise delegates handed Cox a primary challenge. A panel of guests joins us to talk about all that went down at the state GOP convention and what it can tell us about the future of Utah politics.

GUESTS:

  • Spencer Stokes | President of Stokes Strategies, former chief of staff for Sen. Mike Lee and former executive director of the Utah Republican Party. Spencer is a member of KUER’s advisory board.
  • Saige Miller |  KUER’s politics and government reporter, and co-host of "State Street"
  • Dr. David Magleby | Professor Emeritus of political science at Brigham Young University
  • Robert Gehrke | Government and politics reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune 

Airdate: Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 9 a.m. and Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 11 a.m.