Well, the excitement of the primary election has died down before it ever started. We can only hope for a bit of a reprieve from campaign phone calls until October. In Utah, where we operate on a one-party system like communist China, the Republican primary is often the election that determines the results. In Summit County, which is a kind of bizzarro world, it’s the Democratic primary that matters. 

There were some significant races on the docket. The governor’s office, a replacement for Mitt Romney in the Senate (far too reasonable to be reelected), and of course the congressional districts. I guess there were really no surprises.  On the Senate race, U.S. Rep. John Curtis is now the likely replacement for Mitt Romney. Local resident Caroline Gleich is running as a Democrat. The last time Utah sent a Democrat to the Senate, I was in high school. But it could happen.

Curtis’ most serious challenger seemed to be Trent Staggs, a former mayor of Riverton, one of the boomtowns in southwestern Salt Lake County. What I know of Curtis is that he is a rare Republican who recognizes climate change is real. But there was that day when he showed up at the groundbreaking of the county’s bus garage, all smiles and front and center despite having voted against the funding in Congress. So there’s that.

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All I was able to learn of Staggs, aside from being endorsed by Trump, is that he is a “tax and spend liberal.” That seems like an odd description of a guy who was endorsed by Trump himself. But I got a pile of mailers denouncing him as a “tax and spend liberal.” They are coming from a group called Defend American Jobs based in Alexandria, Virginia. And if you can’t believe Defend American Jobs when they call somebody a liberal, who can you believe?

The mailers, which keep coming despite the election being over, are an obvious hit job from a political action committee that supports some other candidate. They don’t have to say who they are supporting, where their money came from, or what business a Utah election is to a group in Alexandria, Virginia. It’s the worst kind of money that pollutes our election process. Absolutely no transparency. They have no website. 

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There is no place to see what motivates Defend American Jobs to spend $16.5 million on the 2024 election, so far. According to a watchdog group, Open Secrets, they spent about $15 million in favor of Republican candidates, and $1.5 million against Republican candidates, like Staggs, in primary races. 

Where did it come from? Who do they want to win instead? Did they have a booth at the Silly Market where you could contribute to their cause? Nope. All invisible. No disclosure of any kind. Not only were the mailers, and a lot of similar TV time, a hit job, it was apparently flat out wrong. But thanks for the information, Defend American Jobs, whoever the hell you are.

Staggs won in Washington County, which is St. George and surrounding communities, some of which had ordinances mandating a gun in every home. Not a liberal stronghold, but Staggs, who Defend American Jobs says is a liberal, carried the vote there. 

There was darn little in the campaign that would have informed anybody about his views, or really those of any of the other candidates. When it comes to useful information, whatever the candidates spent on the election was wasted. Voters are largely left in the dark.

In the governor’s race, incumbent Cox won handily against conservative firebrand and Trump acolyte (and pardon recipient) Phil Lyman. Lyman carried most of southern Utah, and a kind of close win in Morgan County.

One oddity that jumped out was the attorney general race. For years, the Utah Attorney General’s Office has been led by people with some ethical lapses. There were three candidates trying to get the Republican nomination, none running on a reform platform. I have no information on any of them, and Defend American Jobs did not provide some disinformation. 

Rachel Terry, the lone woman on the list, won in San Juan County, while losing in the other 28 counties.   She got 42 percent there, and the nearest competitor got 37 percent of a total of 1,761 votes. Why she would be so popular in that corner of the state is anybody’s guess, but if you were going to focus your campaign in one area of the state, San Juan County probably wouldn’t be the best choice. There are 14,000 people there. Maybe Defend American Jobs went to bat for her down there on the Navajo Reservation. 

A bright spot in all of this was that Brad Wilson, former speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, lost big in the Senate race. Wilson is best known locally for using his legislative seat to facilitate last-minute amendments to accomplish special favors for his developer pals. While that kind of behavior would be right at home in Congress, it was something of a comfort to see him rejected.

I still wish we had a “none of the above” box on the ballot. That would be a sure winner.

Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986.