Gregory Holden Hughes (born October 13, 1969) is an American politician who served as a member of the

Utah House of Representatives The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district cont ...

representing District 51 from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2018. Hughes is the former

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

for the House of Representatives in the state of

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 ...

. He announced that he would not be seeking reelection as Speaker of the House or as a representative in 2018. In 2020, Hughes ran for the office of Governor of Utah. Spencer Cox became the Republican nominee after the Republican primary vote. Hughes ran to replace retiring U.S. Congressman Chris Stewart in the 2023 Utah 2nd congressional district special election, losing the primary to

Celeste Maloy Celeste Maloy (born May 22, 1981) is an American politician and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as chief legal counsel to U.S. Representative Chris Stewart ...

Early life and education

Born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, Hughes never knew his father and was brought up by a single mother who sold cemetery plots on commission. She joined

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

and married when Hughes was five, but the marriage ended in divorce by the time he was ten. At age 16, Hughes was in a car accident with friends, and was subsequently confined to a wheelchair for a year. He later worked as a

bellhop A bellhop (North America), or hotel porter (international), is a hotel employee who helps patrons with their luggage while checking in or out. Bellhops often wear a uniform, like certain other page boys or doormen. This occupation is also know ...

in an upscale Pittsburgh hotel and then on the 1988 presidential campaign staff for

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

. He served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Hughes earned an

associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

from Utah Valley State College (now

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah, United States. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July ...

) and attended briefly

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

Career

When District 51 Republican representative John Swallow ran for Congress and left the seat open, Hughes ran in the June 25, 2002 Republican primary and won with 1,047 votes (53%) and was unopposed for the November 5, 2002 general election, winning with 7,224 votes. Hughes was unopposed in the 2004 and 2006 elections. In 2008, Hughes faced

Margaret Bird Margaret R. Bird (born 1947) is an economist and school trust lands activist in Utah. She is an executive director of the non-profit organization Children's Land Alliance Supporting Schools (CLASS). She has served on the Utah Board of Oil, Gas, a ...

in the Republican primary. Hughes was unopposed in the 2010 and 2012 elections before facing a primary challenger again in 2014. From 2015 to 2018, Hughes served as Speaker of the

. He opted not to run for re-election in 2018. In January 2020, Hughes announced his candidacy for the

2020 Utah gubernatorial election 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 ...

. In April 2020, Hughes named Washington County Commissioner, Victor Iverson, as his running mate. In the Republican primary, Hughes faced former governor and diplomat Jon Huntsman Jr., incumbent

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Spencer Cox Spencer James Cox (born July 11, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2021 as the 18th governor of Utah. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2013 to 2021 as the eighth lieutenant governor of Utah. In Fairview, ...

, 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 ...

, Thomas Wright. After placing third behind Huntsman and Cox, Hughes conceded the race before a winner was announced.

Controversy

Conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

concerns were raised over Hughes' business relationship with developer Kevin Garn while Hughes was serving as the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) board chairman. In April 2011, Greg Hughes and former House Majority Leader Kevin Garn formed a company together to construct an apartment building on land that Hughes owned in downtown Salt Lake City. Several months later, UTA chose a separate company owned by Garn to develop several transit-oriented developments. Hughes was the UTA board chairman at that time, and did not disclose a business relationship with Garn. In 2018, ''

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 ...

'' reported on a conflict-of-interest controversy as part of on ongoing federal probe into the Utah Transit Authority (UTA). Questions were raised in 2016 surrounding the company "Urban Chase Property Management", which is co-owned by Hughes, that would use surplus property owned by UTA. Newly-released documents from 2016 show that UTA believed that "Greg Hughes' proposed participation in this project, even if it is just as an investor, appears to be a conflict of interest." Hughes had no comment due to an ongoing federal investigation, but documents indicate Hughes "did not know the project was related to UTA." In June 2018, a conflict-of-interest caused Greg Hughes to step down from his self-appointed position on the board of the Utah Inland Port Authority after it was discovered that he was registered with at least eight companies owning land within five miles of the inland port. Hughes said he had been unaware that his land was within the disqualification boundary.

Personal life

He and his wife, Krista, live in

Draper, Utah Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. state of Utah, about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. As of the 2020 census, the population is 51,017, up from 7,143 in 1990. Draper is part of two metropolitan area ...

with their three kids. Hughes is a self-employed property manager and developer, and has served on the board of the Utah Transit Authority.

References

External links

Official page
at the

Utah State Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term ...

*
Gregory Hughes
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Gregory Hughes
at the National Institute on Money in State Politics
Campaign site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Greg 2020 United States presidential electors Brigham Young University alumni Candidates in the 2020 United States elections Living people People from Draper, Utah Politicians from Pittsburgh Speakers of the Utah House of Representatives Republican Party members of the Utah House of Representatives Utah Valley University alumni 1969 births 21st-century members of the Utah Legislature