The 2020 Utah gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the governor of Utah. Incumbent Republican governor Gary Herbert declined running for re-election to a third full term.

Background

Although incumbent Republican governor Gary Herbert was eligible to run for re-election to a third full term, he initially announced shortly after being re-elected in 2016 that he would not run again, but indicated in January 2019 that he was open to the possibility of running again before ultimately deciding to retire and endorse his lieutenant governor, Spencer Cox. Utah had not had a Democratic governor since Scott M. Matheson left office in January 1985. This is the second longest active streak of one-party leadership, trailing only

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, which had not had a Democratic governor since Harvey L. Wollman left office in 1979. The primaries took place on June 30, 2020. The filing deadline was on June 19, 2020.

Description

The 2020 Utah gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the governor of Utah, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and elections to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and various

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and local elections. The winner of the election was the first non-incumbent gubernatorial candidate to be elected since Jon Huntsman Jr. in 2004, who ran in this election before he was eliminated in the primaries. Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox won the general election by defeating the Democratic nominee,

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

law professor and former CFPB official Christopher Peterson. This election was the first open-seat gubernatorial election in Utah since

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

* Spencer Cox, Lieutenant Governor of Utah ** Running mate: Deidre Henderson, state senator and candidate for UT-03 in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Eliminated in the primary

* Greg Hughes, former speaker of the Utah House of Representatives ** Running mate: Victor Iverson, Washington County Commission Chairman * Jon Huntsman Jr., former United States Ambassador to Russia,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, former governor of Utah, and

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

** Running mate: Michelle Kaufusi, Mayor of Provo * Thomas Wright, Republican National Committee executive committee member and former chair of the

Utah Republican Party The Utah Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Utah. It is currently the dominant party in the state, and has been for almost all of its history. It currently holds Utah's entire congressional delegation ...

** Running mate: Rob Bishop, U.S. representative for Utah's 1st congressional district and former speaker of the Utah House of Representatives

Eliminated at the convention

* Jeff Burningham, businessman ** Running mate: Dan McCay, state senator * Jason Christensen, activist ** Running mate: Drew Chamberlain * Jan Garbett, businesswoman ** Running mate: Joseph Jarvis, physician and small business owner * Aimee Winder Newton, Salt Lake County councilwoman (''Endorsed Cox'') ** Running mate: John Dougall, Utah state auditor

Declined

* Rob Bishop, U.S. representative (endorsed Wright, who in turn chose Bishop to run with him as his lieutenant governor) * Jason Chaffetz, former U.S. representative * John Dougall, Utah state auditor * Gary Herbert, incumbent governor (endorsed Cox) *

Mike Lee Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Lee became Utah's senior senator in 2019, whe ...

, U.S. senator (endorsed Huntsman) * Greg Miller, former CEO of the Utah Jazz * Sean Reyes, Attorney General of Utah * Josh Romney, real estate developer and son of

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

Endorsements

Polling

Convention results

Debate

Primary results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

* Christopher Peterson,

law professor and former CFPB official ** Running mate: Karina Brown, community organizer

Eliminated at the convention

* Neil Hansen, former state representative ** Running mate: Brandy Farmer, candidate for Utah House of Representatives * Ryan Jackson * Zachary Moses, CEO of HeTravel.com ** Running mate: Nate Kizerian, community activist * Nikki Pino Jr., youth counselor ** Running mate: Nikki Pino Sr., retired Army lieutenant colonel and father to Nikki Pino Jr. * Archie A Williams, 2014 Democratic candidate for District 60 of the Utah House of Representatives III

Declined

* Peter Corroon, former

Utah Democratic Party The Utah Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Utah. The party describes itself as a big tent party. It has very weak electoral power in the state. It controls none of Ut ...

chair, former mayor of Salt Lake County, and nominee for governor in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* Scott Howell, former state senator and nominee for U.S. Senate in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

* Patricia W. Jones, former state senator * Brian King, minority leader of the Utah House of Representatives (endorsed Peterson) * Jim Matheson, former U.S. representative * Ben McAdams, U.S. representative ( running for re-election) * Peter Metcalf, former CEO of Black Diamond Equipment * Paul Rolly, former columnist for ''

The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...

'' * Jim Winder, former Salt Lake County Sheriff

Polling

Convention results

Other candidates

Independent American Party

Nominee

* Gregory Duerden, ** Wayne Hill, Vice Chair of the Utah Independent American Party

Libertarian Party

Nominee

* Daniel Cottam, Bariatric Surgeon ** Running mate: Barry Short, businessman and Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Utah

Republican write-in

* Madeline Kazantzis ran for election for Governor of Utah as a write-in in the general election on November 3, 2020. She received 18,988 votes.

Declined

* Jon Huntsman Jr., former United States Ambassador to Russia,

and

, former governor of Utah, and

for

General election

Campaign

An advertisement that featured both major-party candidates, calling for civility in politics, drew significant media coverage and praise.

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary
Polls
with Spencer Eccles
with only Spencer Cox, Greg Hughes and Jon Huntsman
with Generic Democrat
with Bishop, Chaffetz, Cox, Dougall, Hughes, Miller, Newton, Reyes and Generic Democrat (D)
with Jason Chaffetz, Spencer Cox, Spencer Eccles, Greg Hughes, Ben McAdams, Greg Miller and Josh Romney

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic * Grand (largest municipality:

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

)

By congressional district

Cox won all 4 congressional districts.

Notes

Additional candidates
General

References

External links

Official campaign websites
Daniel Cottam (L) for Governor

Spencer Cox (R) for Governor

Gregory Duerden (IAP) for Governor

Christopher Peterson (D) for Governor
{{2020 United States elections

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...