SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly 4,000 Republican delegates swarmed the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday morning to pick GOP nominees in races from Utah governor to state school board.
Trent Staggs campaigns at the Utah Republican Nominating Convention in Salt Lake City, April 27, 2024 Photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune, St. George News
Many of the morning sessions were delayed by more than an hour because of delays with the credentialing process or problems with the electronic voting system.
Delegates were buzzing shortly after the doors opened to the convention hall because of a last-minute endorsement from former President Donald Trump for U.S. Senate candidate Trent Staggs.
“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 Truth Social.
Trump giving his stamp of approval to Staggs was not a surprise. Staggs has spent much of the lead-up to Saturday’s convention courting the endorsement of several figures in Trump’s orbit. On Tuesday morning, supporters handed out screenshots of the post printed on 8×11 paper to delegates passing Staggs’ booth.
That wasn’t the only Trump-related intrigue swirling around the convention on Saturday. Donald Trump, Jr. was a scheduled speaker at the Limitless Arena financial event in West Valley City, leading many to speculate he would make the short trip to the Salt Palace to rally GOP delegates.
Many costumes were worn at the Utah Republican convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 27, 2024 | Photo by Brett Barrett, St. George News
That did not materialize, however. A representative for Trump’s camp told The Salt Lake Tribune that he was only scheduled to spend a short amount of time in Utah and his schedule did not have room for events with the Utah GOP.
Bubbling just below the surface among many delegates is anger over 2014′s SB54, which allows candidates to advance to the primary election by gathering signatures no matter what happens at the convention.
During the morning elections for legislative and school board seats, state Sen. Curt Bramble was confronted by a delegate who demanded to know why he co-sponsored SB54.
“I didn’t co-sponsor SB54, I was the architect,” Bramble said.
Bramble, who is retiring from the Legislature after 24 years, said he was frustrated about the “revisionist history” that has sprung up among delegates about SB54. He explained when lawmakers created the signature path in 2014, a proposed ballot initiative was threatening to eliminate the caucus/convention system for nominating candidates altogether.
Washington County delegates at the Utah Republican convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 27, 2024 | Photo by Brett Barrett, St. George News
“That initiative was polling with better than 70% approval among registered Republicans and even higher among unaffiliated voters and Democrats,” Bramble said. “It was clear to me and the Legislature that initiative would pass and do away with the convention system entirely. We wanted to preserve the caucus system, and this was the only way to do that.”
“We’re no longer vetting candidates. We’re not asking if this person can actually do the job. We’re focusing on ideological purity. What we’re focusing on isn’t even stuff that matters a lot. Stuff like — no offense — pieces of fabric. Whether they care about the flag tells you nothing,” Hemmert said. “I’m concerned we’re getting elected officials despite this process and not because of it.”
Hemmert will face Rep. Keven Stratton in a primary election for the GOP nomination in June.
One of Bramble’s colleagues — Woods Cross Sen. Todd Weiler in District 8 — will also head to a primary. He got 53% of the delegate vote, and Ronald Mortensen, with 47%, will show up next to Weiler on the ballot.
By Bryan Schott and Emily Anderson Stern, Salt Lake Tribune.
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