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Donald Trump has a grip on the Utah Republican Party. Here’s why.

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Donald Trump has a grip on the Utah Republican Party. Here’s why.


It was dreary Saturday morning at 7 a.m. as thousands of Republican delegates filed into the Salt Palace, the spring sunrise delayed in Salt Lake City by rainclouds. It would be 17 hours before delegates finished nominating candidates for June’s primary elections and flooded back into a city that had already seen the sunset.

The Utah Republican Party’s 2024 State Nominating Convention concluded just before midnight on Saturday, with nearly 4,000 delegates sending a clear message to party leaders: They’re not ready for the Donald Trump era of GOP politics to be over — and not even incumbent candidates would be safe this year.

Trump-supported candidates for governor and U.S. Senate, the two most high-profile races in this year’s elections, seized delegates’ support on Saturday. The champions of those hard-line Republicans now wade into a primary election where they’ll face other GOP candidates who gathered enough voters’ signatures to remain in the summer primary. To delegates, those signature gatherers have spited a convention system they hold sacred, and, in many cases, they steadfastly elected “convention-only” candidates.

Two-thirds of delegates picked Phil Lyman — a state legislator Trump pardoned in 2020, after he was convicted of a misdemeanor for leading an illegal protest on federal land — in the 2024 gubernatorial race.

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Taking the convention stage to address the crowd before the vote, Gov. Spencer Cox, who is up for reelection after his first four-year term, was met with some cheers, but a vocal majority hissed at the governor.

“Maybe you’re booing me because you hate that I signed the largest tax cut in Utah history. Maybe you hate that I signed constitutional carry into law. Maybe you hate that we ended CRT, DEI and ESG,” Cox, recalling his Republican bone fides, told the raucous crowd. “Or maybe you hate that I don’t hate enough.”

Regardless of delegates’ wishes, both Cox and Lyman will be on the June 25 primary ballot — because Cox gathered enough signatures from voters.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox gets a mixed reaction at the Utah Republican Nominating Convention in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 27, 2024.

‘100% MAGA’

Earlier in the day, as delegates waited in a long line for their credentials and voting instructions, they learned that Trump had endorsed Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs in the race to replace Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate.

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“Trent Staggs is 100% MAGA, and is running to fill The Mitt Romney, a Total Loser, Seat as the next Senator from the Great State of Utah!,” Trump posted on social media just hours before delegates would cast a ballot in the crowded Senate competition.

Staggs’ team moved quickly to print out the post to share paper copies with potential supporters who might not have seen the endorsement on their phones nor felt the lightning of the announcement charge through the convention.

“Donald Trump called me at six this morning to tell me I had his full endorsement in this race,” a red-faced Staggs roared to delegates from the stage.

Four rounds of voting later, delegates handed Staggs the win. He’ll join signature gatherers Congressman John Curtis, former Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson and businessman Jason Walton on the ballot this summer.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) U.S. Senate candidate Trent Staggs at the Utah Republican Nominating Convention in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 27, 2024.

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Saturday’s nominating convention happened against the backdrop of the former president’s own reelection campaign. Also, since losing his first reelection bid in 2020, Trump has faced several criminal indictments and civil lawsuits. Six months ahead of November’s presidential election, the former president is off the campaign trail and sitting for the third week of a criminal trial in New York City, where he’s alleged to have falsified business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star to prevent news of the affair from marring his 2016 presidential campaign.

Congressional incumbents take losses

While members of the U.S. House of Representatives are up for reelection every two years, only three of Utah’s four congressional seats were contested on Saturday. No Republican challenged Rep. Burgess Owens, a loyal Trump surrogate, in Utah’s 4th Congressional District. Because Rep. John Curtis is leaving his 3rd District seat in hopes of replacing Romney, several Republicans are running for his open seat.

Of the two other incumbent members of Congress, neither Rep. Blake Moore of Utah’s 1st Congressional District nor Rep. Celeste Maloy, the recent winner of November’s 2nd District special election, were nominated on Saturday. Both, however, will run in those primary races.

Less than two days ahead of the convention, Sen. Mike Lee — a favorite among delegates and an avid Trump supporter — endorsed Colby Jenkins, a former U.S. Army officer, over Maloy in the 2nd District race.

“Too many Republicans in Congress have voted to expand the size, scope, and cost of the federal government,” Lee said in a statement Thursday, ”in many cases deferring to congressional GOP leaders bent on advancing the Democrats’ agenda.”

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(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Sen. Mike Lee endorses Colby Jenkins at the Utah Republican Nominating Convention in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 27, 2024.

Taking the stage Saturday, Maloy brought her own surrogate to the microphone: Delegate favorite and congressional colleague Owens.

In a head-to-head vote, Jenkins received nearly 59% of the delegates’ support, leaving Maloy with 43%. But the win wasn’t enough to clear the 60% threshold to win the nomination outright, meaning Maloy, who didn’t gather signatures, will have a chance to defend her seat again in June.

Moore survived his own convention loss by collecting signatures. Instead of Moore, the Utah representative with the most power in the U.S. House, delegates nominated Paul Miller, 55% to 45%.

More than two of the 17 hours delegates spent at the Salt Palace were taken up by six long votes to nominate a candidate to replace Curtis in Utah’s 3rd District. State Sen. Mike Kennedy, another “convention only” candidate, eventually received 61% of the vote. He joins signature-gathering candidates Stewart Peay, JR Bird, Case Lawrence and John Dougall on the ballot.

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After voting finished around midnight, the delegates retraced their steps out of the Salt Palace and back into the darkness, leaving behind red, white and blue campaign signs and the disposable plates that once held free pizza slices given by the Cox campaign to feed the delegates on the convention floor.

Salt Lake Tribune reporters Bryan Schott and Emily Anderson Stern contributed to this story.



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Utah Jazz Reacts: Who should the Jazz draft?

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Utah Jazz Reacts: Who should the Jazz draft?


The NBA Draft is less than a week away, and the Utah Jazz have a big decision to make. What’s difficult for the Jazz is that there isn’t an obvious choice between some incredible prospects at the top of the draft: AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer. Obviously, everything depends on what the Washington Wizards decide to do with their pick. But with all the smoke screens we’ve seen, it’s not clear who will be available to the Jazz.

That’s where you come in. If you were the Utah Jazz and you had the chance to choose between AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer, who would you choose?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Jazz fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.



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Utah first lady Abby Cox optimistic about legislative moves to strengthen child literacy

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Utah first lady Abby Cox optimistic about legislative moves to strengthen child literacy


SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is no stranger to discourse surrounding early child literacy.

While the Beehive State generally performs higher than other states in terms of proficiency measures, its leaders still recognize — especially post-COVID — that it’s a real issue that demands serious solutions.

A legislative audit released Tuesday said Utah school teachers and administrators should focus enhanced attention not only on third-graders, the traditional benchmark for early literacy, but also on first-graders, where data starts spotting early literacy challenges in young students.

Then, Utah first lady Abby Cox on Wednesday added to that discussion, speaking with Utah education and policy leaders about the need to meet the literacy crisis head-on and ways Utah has worked to do just that.

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“We’re not in the best place that we can be, and we’re a little ahead of the national average; we always have been, but that still isn’t great. We’re in a moment where everybody’s starting to realize this … business community, educators, all of us coming together to realize there’s an issue here,” Cox said.

She mentioned the passage of SB241 during the 2026 legislative session, which committed $25.6 million to literacy coaching, increased the statewide goal to have 80% of third-graders reading at grade-level by 2030 and includes an intervention measure requiring struggling third-graders to repeat the grade — “except in cases of certain good cause exemption.”

“I know we can get 97-plus percent of our kiddos reading on grade level by third grade. We can do this,” Cox said.

She also emphasized the need to get “attention-sucking machines,” AKA cellphones, out of classrooms — something top lawmakers in the state have made strides to emphasize.

July 1 will mark the start of a new Utah law ushered in with the passage of SB69 that essentially places a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones at Utah’s K-12 public schools, unless a school or district opts for a looser policy.

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The latest piece of legislation was built upon a similar bill passed during the 2025 session that set a default policy barring students from using their phones during class time.

Despite those restrictions, many lawmakers and educators argued they didn’t go far enough, which led to SB69.

“I don’t think we all know enough about how wonderful this is going to be,” Cox said, adding that data has shown library book checkouts have skyrocketed in schools that have instituted daylong cellphone ban policies.

“I talked to a principal who, after the first day of going bell-to-bell, walked into his high school lunch room, thinking there was a fight, because there was all this chaos and noise … and it was just (students) communicating with each other, playing cards, bringing little games,” Cox said. “It was just beautiful to see, and I think we’re going to see an incredible resurgence as we implement this statewide.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Here’s why Bosnia-Herzegovina fans in Utah are living a ‘dream’ during the World Cup

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Here’s why Bosnia-Herzegovina fans in Utah are living a ‘dream’ during the World Cup


The nation’s soccer team practiced in front of fans this week at Real Salt Lake’s stadium in Sandy.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fans cheer as Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

The majority of the Bosnians living in Utah did not leave for the Wasatch Front under favorable circumstances.

The Bosnian War in the mid-1990s brought more than 100,000 refugees to the United States, with thousands settling in Salt Lake City.

Thirty years later, however, a moment of celebration brought thousands of Bosnian-Americans together with the arrival of their country’s soccer team in Utah.

Blue and white jerseys flooded the plaza and stands of Real Salt Lake’s Sandy stadium on Monday to watch Bosnia-Herzegovina’s soccer team, which has made Utah its home base in between World Cup games.

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(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

“It was like a dream,” Anel Alagic, who was born in Bosnia but raised in Salt Lake, said. “That we qualified for the World Cup was crazy, but then they told us that the home base would never be here in Salt Lake. It’s surreal.”

The festivities extended beyond the field, as well, with several vendors and volunteers serving Bosnian food and drinks, including its signature coffee from the world’s largest coffee pot, which was made in Bosnia.

The pot is traveling with the national team, heading to Los Angeles on Thursday for a match against Switzerland and then to Seattle for Bosnia’s June 24 match against Qatar.

A dream just to qualify

Bosnia has qualified for the World Cup just twice since declaring its independence in 1992, with the first time coming in Brazil in 2014. This year’s team qualified in dramatic fashion, defeating four-time World Cup champion Italy on penalty kicks.

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The Bosnian fans are not taking their team’s presence in the World Cup for granted, with a viral video showing thousands marching in Toronto before the first game and 40,000 to 50,000 expected to be in attendance in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Two Bosnian restaurants in Salt Lake, Cafe on Main and Old Bridge Cafe, will both be closing their doors on Thursday to make the trek to California in support of their country.

And it’s not just people born in Bosnia jumping on the bandwagon, with Cafe on Main saying several Americans showed up in Bosnia jerseys to watch the opening game at the restaurant last week in a packed house.

“I’ve invited a lot of my co-workers and friends that typically don’t even watch soccer,” Alagic said of Bosnia World Cup fever catching on, thanks to events like the open training session. “I was like, ‘We’re having this event. Show out.’ I’ve seen a lot of people here, so it’s cool.”

Bringing people together

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fans cheer as Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

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“Because of the war, our community is all over the world,” said RSL goalkeeper coach Mirza Harambasic, who is Bosnian. “It’s especially strong in the United States, and it’s strong here in Salt Lake City. So obviously everyone is so excited, so happy to be here, so happy to support.”

Harambasic was born in Bosnia and, like many others, came to the U.S. in the ‘90s. He helped coordinate Monday’s event and was confident in Salt Lake’s ability to accommodate the soccer needs of a World Cup team.

“When you talk about an environment to be successful, I don’t think there are many better places in the United States,” Harambasic said. “As far as city, lifestyle, training at elevation, and then obviously the facilities that RSL provides.”

With the first two games in Bosnia’s Group B ending in 1-1 draws, the top two spots are still very much up for the taking, giving fans just enough hope that the country can advance beyond the World Cup group stage for the first time in its history.

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