Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Another Utahn has entered the race to be the state’s next governor, as Jan Garbett told KSL NewsRadio’s Jeff Caplan on Thursday that she will become the seventh competitor in the campaign.
“I actually was preparing to run for Congress when I found out some information that I didn’t know before,” Garbett told Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News. She said she decided to run for governor after every gubernatorial candidate at the Jan. 31 Silicon Slopes debate backed President Donald Trump for reelection.
“I realized that people in Utah need a choice,” Garbett said.
In 2016, Garbett was the lieutenant governor pick for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Vaughn Cook; Cook fell to Mike Weinholtz at the party convention.
Garbett also ran against Rep. Chris Stewart as a United Utah Party candidate for Congress in 2018 before withdrawing from the race.
Garbett co-founded Garbett Homes with her husband Bryson in 1988. Bryson Garbett has also served as a Republican in the Utah Legislature, and Jan Garbett served in various capacities for the state Republican Party.
Garbett told Caplan that she will gather signatures to qualify for the ballot.
"I feel like the people in Utah need a choice," she said, "and I think the people in Utah have values that aren't being represented right now in our federal government."
Garbett graduated from the University of Utah in 1978 and serves in various philanthropic and community initiatives. Her son, David Garbett, ran for Salt Lake City mayor in 2019.
Garbett will be facing off against former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, former House Speaker Greg Hughes, Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton, former Utah GOP chairman and businessman Thomas Wright, and businessman Jeff Burningham.
Elsewhere, Darren Parry, chairman of the Northwest Band of the Shoshone Nation, announced a run for Utah's 1st congressional district as a Democrat.
Rep. Rob Bishop is vacating the seat this year and running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Wright; several Republicans have already announced bids for the congressman's seat, and Jamie Cheek is running as a Democrat.
"I believe it is now time for good people to stand up and make a difference," Parry said in a news release Thursday. He decried the modern political tribalism he sees as dividing the country.
"We fear others will enter our country to harm us, rather than trusting the abundance of nature and the goodness of the human spirit; principles that our country was founded on. ... It’s time for good people to stand up and make a difference in their communities.”
Contributing: Lindsay Aerts, KSL NewsRadio
