Over 270 of the 306 Iron County Delegates for the GOP (90+ percent) attended the nominating convention held at Canyon View High School Auditorium Friday evening April 8th to record their preference for the GOP Candidates for County Commissioner seats A and B. Mike Bleak and Destry Griffiths are competing for Seat A, while Paul Cozzens and Steve Miller vie for Seat B. All four candidates participated in the Meet and Greet from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 pm and each candidate addressed the delegates at the convention. Many other candidates also had booths at the Meet and Greet.
Read more about it in the meeting minutes.
Results of the election :
County Commission Seat A
- Destry Griffiths 116 – 43%
- Mike Bleak 154 – 57%
County Commission Seat B
- Steve Miller 91 – 34%
- Paul Cozzens 179 – 66.3%
The threshold to continue to a primary is 40%, meaning Destroy Griffiths and Mike Bleak will continue to the Republican Primary Election. The threashold to become the Republican Convention Candidate is 60%, making Paul Cozzens the Convention Candidate for County Commission Seat B.
However, since all candidates, excluding Destry Griffiths, collected signatures, all candidates will proceed to Republican Primary Election, which will be held on June 28th.
There are 49 precincts located throughout Iron County. These are voting precincts created by the elected County Clerk based on population. Considering caucus attendance is typically around 1000 people, 306 convention participants, who represent their precinct, is a significant sample size.
Past County Convention winners include, starting with the most recent: Commissioner Marilyn Wood (2020), Commissioner Mike Bleak (2016 and 2018), Commissioner Paul Cozzens (2018), Sheriff Ken Carpenter (2018), Attorney Chad Dotson (2018), Commissioner Alma Adams (2014), Representative John Westwood (2012 and 2014), Commissioner Dale Brinkerhoff (2010), and County Assessor Cindy Bulloch (2010) were all victorious at the County Convention and then went on to win the contested Primary as well.
In the last 12 years, the County Convention winner has gone on to win the contested primary election 92% of the time.
The following unopposed Republicans were voted by acclamation:
- Rex P. Shipp – House Seat 71
- Chad Dotson – County Attorney
- Dan Jessen – County Auditor
- Jon Whittaker – County Clerk
- Ken Carpenter – County Sheriff
In addition to the before mentioned participants, the following candidates addressed the delegates while ballots were counted:
- Chris Stewart, incumbent, U.S. Congress 2nd District
- Evan Barlow, candidate, U.S. Senate
- Loy Brunson, candidate, U.S. Senate
- Jeremy Freidbaum, candidate, U.S. Senate
- Marlo Oaks, incumbent, Utah Treasurer
- Evan J. Vickers, incumbent, Utah Senate District 28
- Patrick Larson, candidate Utah Senate District 28
- Russell Sias, candidate Utah Senate District 28
- Carl Albrecht, incumbent Utah House District 70
- Rex Shipp, incumbent Utah House District 71
- Kim Pickett, State School Board District 14
