At the 2024 Republican State Convention, Governor Spencer Cox insinuated that Delegates who don’t vote for him “hate too much,” and stated that those Republicans are “radical extremists.” He threatened that if we didn’t vote for him the Republican Party would lose the Neighborhood Caucus-Convention System, which allows everyone an equal chance to participate in our elections regardless of their financial situation. In a follow up fundraising email, he doubled down on this divisive and contentious rhetoric.

We are concerned that this negative approach will only increase when the campaign shifts from talking to delegates in person to third party paid advertising, and that the countless time and resources that volunteer delegates spend taking their roles seriously will continue to be disrespected.

Governor Cox took these actions in response to a portion of the State Delegates expressing their dissatisfaction with his actions in office by booing him at the beginning of his speech. While we do not approve of booing as an effective form of communication with our representatives, Spencer Cox’s response was no better, and as the governor, and as a Republican leader, Republican voters expect better leadership.

We are confident that if Governor Cox had given a more positive and unifying speech, explained some of the disagreements better, did not collect signatures, and spent more time visiting places like Iron County in person that he would have received a significantly higher vote than the 29% he received. These common-sense approaches to campaigning were done by most of the other candidates who received better results. Senator Orrin Hatch in the 2012 election, whom Governor Cox referenced in his speech, campaigned well and received nearly 60% of the vote despite controversial votes taken. Representatives Moore and Maloy both easily qualified for the primary ballot without the need for collecting signatures.

Delegates are elected by their neighbors. Most delegates are respected by their neighbors through their community service, employment, positions on issues, or ecclesiastical positions. If they weren’t respected and representative of their neighborhoods, then they would not be elected.

If non-delegate voters were given the same amount of time and availability to candidates as delegates receive, we are certain that the broader primary electorate would make essentially the same decisions in Party Primary Elections as the Delegates do in Party Conventions.

Unfortunately, with the broad disparities in access to money that various candidates have, equal access to voters is not possible for all candidates. This is the most likely cause of any significant disparity in results between convention and primary, and until scientifically replicable research is completed, it is not philosophically cogent to simply label the difference in outcomes to what Governor Cox prescribed – delegates “hate people” and are “extreme and radical”.

In 2020, during the Republican primary with three other candidates, Governor Cox received 36% of the vote, only 2% higher than the next highest candidate. This 36% primary result is not significantly different from the 29% of State Delegates that voted for him at the Convention.

It is critical that Governor Cox work to positively reach out to the 64% of Republicans who voted for another candidate and work to unify our party in order to establish and promote Republican values.

We call upon Governor Cox to disagree better, to rescind his divisive, false, and inflammatory remarks, and to apologize to the Utah Republican Party organization, the Republican voters of Utah, and the duly elected volunteer State Delegates who represent them on the local level.

The Iron County Republican Party Executive Committee