Utah Politics

Utah’s once-a-decade redistricting process is barreling to a close with both the legislative and independent redistricting committees are finishing up public meetings around the state. The independent group already has several map proposals online. They will present their final proposals to lawmakers on November 1. Chairman Rex Facer says they have to take a number of things into consideration as they draw their maps. “Part of what was going on in our mind was trying to think about the...

Given the strength of former President Donald Trump’s hold on the GOP, it’s reasonable to believe the party’s future is leaning harder into the MAGA agenda. But Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan thinks that’s the wrong path. Duncan says Trump gave his supporters and other Republicans a “short-term sugar high” with his bombastic and combative style. But, that rush also turned off a lot of voters and caused him to lose an election that should have been an easy layup. “We forgot to remind America...

Rep. Suzanne Harrison, D-Draper, has a unique perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only is she a Utah Legislator, but she also works in a busy operating room as an anesthesiologist. “As someone who’s been working in our hospitals during this fourth wave, this is a huge problem,” Harrison says. “Our staff is exhausted and we’re having a hard time finding beds for the people that need care.” She thinks her Republican colleagues in the Legislature have needlessly politicized the public...

On this week’s show, we chat with Grant Burningham. He’s the new Statewatch Editor for The Tribune and will lead our government and politics reporting team. He discusses the importance of holding public officials accountable, and providing context to political news. Author Ben Mezrich also joins the podcast this week. His book, “The Accidental Billionaires” about the founding of Facebook was turned into the Academy Award-winning film “The Social Network.” His new book, “The Antisocial...

Author Tom Nichols says democracy across the globe is under threat, but not for the reason you may think. Nichols, who is a contributing writer for The Atlantic, argues technologically advanced societies have increased their standard of living so rapidly, citizens are becoming bored, and care less about their fellow citizens. “People just got used to the idea that if things didn’t go the way they wanted or things didn’t happen in ways they approved of, it wasn’t the fault of some...

In 2017, then-Weber County Commissioner Kerry Gibson was the subject of a criminal investigation. After several months, prosecutors declined to file charges against Gibson because they said there was not enough evidence to charge him with the crime of misusing public money. The report on the investigation, and what prosecutors found, remained out of the public eye. Longtime local journalist Cathy McKitrick filed an open records request to make those findings public, but Gibson fought hard...

After a pandemic-related delay, the Census Bureau finally released the data Utah lawmakers will use to redraw the state’s political boundaries in the once-a-decade redistricting process. On this episode, we bring you an on-the-record conversation between The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board and Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield and Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, the chairs of the Legislature’s Redistricting Committee. Ray says he’s eager to get down to business, but he understands no matter...

Sen. Mitt Romney was warned ahead of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that he might be the target of violence from supporters of former President Donald Trump. That warning came from fellow Sen. Angus King of Maine, who himself was alerted to possible violence by America’s top military leaders. That’s just one of the dozens of startling revelations contained in the new book “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year” by Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and...

Rep. Blake Moore violated federal law by failing to report up to $1.1 million in stock trades. But, for that he was fined just $200 by the House Ethics Committee. Dave Levinthal, Deputy Washington Editor for Insider.com, who broke the Moore story, says these laws are in place for a reason. “It was put in place to defend against potential conflicts of interest or just give the public the ability to see what members of Congress are doing in terms of their personal stock trades at a time when...

The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is holding its annual meeting in Salt Lake City next week. Lawmakers, mostly Republicans, from around the country will converge on Utah. There, they’ll meet with representatives from the private sector to discuss public policy proposals that may be implemented in statehouses around the country. Those proposals take the form of “model legislation” that serves as a template legislators can use to craft their own legislation. Critics of ALEC...

New Utah GOP Chairman Carson Jorgensen says he thinks the current debate over the teaching of race and racism in Utah’s schools is an important one to have, but he doesn’t want the rhetoric to lead to bad policy. “We have to be very specific when we’re talking about critical race theory because it’s become a kind of a byword at this point. A lot of people are labeling things that aren’t CRT as CRT at this point. It’s such a hot-button issue,” Jorgensen said. Critical race theory is not...

America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was driven as much by politics as it was by science as policymakers tried to balance public health with economic health. Andy Slavitt, who headed up the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration says 15 months on, many of the choices made by our leaders don’t look so great in hindsight. “It was a huge public health challenge, and that meant tough decisions and trade-offs. But a lot of what happened came back to...

Last year, Sen. Mike Lee caused a bit of a firestorm on social media when he published a tweetstorm attacking democracy. “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prosperity are. We want the human condition to flourish,” Lee tweeted. Lee’s statement was surprising, but it really shouldn’t be according to Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor under President Barack Obama. “There’s always been a definition of America that says anyone can be American. You can come...

A proposed bill to bar transgendered athletes from participating in girl’s sports in Utah will come back for the second time in the 2022 Utah Legislature. Drew Armstrong is the co-founder of “Dragon Dads,” a support group for fathers of transgender and non-binary children, is a Utah Republican delegate. Armstrong says the proposal is a solution in search of a problem. “I’m frustrated with this because if we ran a bill that said we shouldn’t allow livestock in high school hallways, it would...

On this week’s episode, we go inside The Salt Lake Tribune and listen in to a conversation between Rep. Blake Moore and the Tribune’s Editorial Board. Moore spoke with the board earlier this week to discuss a myriad of issues from Hill Air Force Base to public lands and the future of the Republican Party. Moore also discussed whether he’s getting any push back from within the House Republican Caucus because he voted in favor of establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate the...

The sight of Sen. Mitt Romney, who was the GOP nominee for president just nine years ago, getting booed by Utah Republicans was “just terrible,” says longtime political pundit Chris Matthews. “I don’t understand it. He didn’t do anything wrong,” Matthews told the Tribune on this week’s Utah Politics podcast. “He’s been a Republican all his life. He’s tough on taxes. He’s tough on big government. He’s the classic conservative.” Romney was showered with catcalls by Republican delegates at...

The controversy over critical race theory is not confined to Utah. Several other Republican-controlled states are moving to restrict how race and racism are addressed in their K-12 classrooms. Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras joins us this week to discuss how the controversy is playing out in other states. He says fears that teachers are introducing the concept in their classrooms are mostly unfounded. “In public schools, very seldom is someone bringing up critical race...

Critical race theory is not currently taught in Utah’s schools, and there are no plans to introduce the curriculum anytime soon. So why are so many people worried about it? The concept looks at American history by examining how racism and racial issues have shaped events and led us to where we are today. “A lot of people grew up with a pretty narrow view of American history,” says Darlene McDonald of the Utah Black Roundtable. “We learned about Martin Luther King Jr. Maybe we learned a...

Utah is preparing for the once-per-decade process of redrawing political maps. This week we take a deep dive into redistricting with Rex Facer, the chairman of Utah’s independent redistricting commission. He discusses the rules and considerations he and the other members of the commission have to consider when they get down to drawing new map proposals later this year. “We don’t want to agree beforehand to draw maps that are going to force competitiveness where competitiveness wouldn’t...

This week on the “Utah Politics” podcast, we discuss the future of the Republican Party and whether the GOP needs to break up with former President Donald Trump. First, we speak with Evan McMullin. The former independent presidential candidate joined with 150 other Republicans to release a “Call for American Renewal,” urging the GOP to focus on issues like democracy, constitutional order and ethical government. “It’s time to have a new conversation in America, and it shouldn’t be driven by...