United Utah Party caucuses exceed expectations with 900 attendees

United Utah Party caucuses exceed expectations with 900 attendees

(Courtesy of United Utah Party)


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SALT LAKE CITY — The turnout at Tuesday’s caucuses for Utah’s newest political party vastly exceeded expectations, party leaders said.

Among the United Utah Party’s 19 caucus events, just over 900 people showed up, United Utah Party Executive Director Nils Bergeson said.

“It exceeded our expectations,” Bergeson said. “I think we were expecting a few hundred, but we have probably two or three times more than we were really anticipating coming out to the caucuses.”

Alternately, between 35,000 and 40,000 people showed up for Republican Party caucuses throughout Utah, according to Utah GOP Chairman Rob Anderson. That's about a 15 percent decline from 2014 when similar midterm caucuses were held.

The Democratic Party caucuses drew somewhere between 11,000-16,000 people, Utah Democratic Party Executive Director Alex Cragun said. That number increased about 10 percent since the 2014 midterm caucuses.

The United Utah Party formed in 2017, promising an alternative to the traditional parties in the state by way of moderation and compromise between liberals and conservatives, instead of partisanship.

The 2017 special election for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District brought the party to further prominence when their candidate Jim Bennett earned 9 percent of the vote, according to party officials.

The party has just over 400 registered members, Bergeson said. More people have signed on in support of the party, but have not yet officially registered as members, he said.

Nineteen people are running for office this year as United Utah Party candidates, Bergeson said. Most of them are running for seats in the state Legislature, but the party is fielding a candidate in Utah’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd Federal Congressional Districts.

During this year's caucus meetings, the focus was on introducing people to the United Utah Party and familiarizing people with why the party was started, Bergeson said. People at the caucuses were able to hear from party leaders, as well as some of the candidates who are running for office.

One of the biggest priorities for the party in the next few months will be spreading the word about its existence, Bergeson said.

“That’s going to be our biggest effort over the next few months — really just helping to introduce ourselves to as many people as possible and explaining who we are and what we do,” he said.

Another priority will be administering county conventions. For United Utah Party conventions, anyone who is a member of the party is automatically a delegate, unlike with other political parties, Bergeson said.

Up until now, the party has been focused on organizing at the state level, but leaders are hoping to branch out into counties moving forward, Bergeson said. The party is fielding several county commissioner candidates in Salt Lake and Utah counties and a few others.

Bergeson describes the United Utah Party as a “reform first” party. Though the party supports a few core positions, such as term limits, open elections and campaign finance reforms, it’s not strictly conservative or liberal, he said.

“We don’t hold people to a rigid ideology,” Bergeson said. “People can come in with different viewpoints. What we do promote is good governance ideas. We think there’s some key reforms that need to take place first and foremost in order for other good policies to take place.”

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