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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah gubernatorial candidate Thomas Wright announced Thursday that his campaign is the first to collect enough verified signatures to appear on the Republican primary ballot.
Wright, a realtor and former chairman of the Utah GOP, is running on a ticket with retiring Rep. Rob Bishop against a field that now includes six other candidates.
Though he is the first to qualify for the ballot using the signature-gathering method, Wright said in a news release Thursday that he has "three serious issues" with the signature process. He said it "favors those who can either self-finance or who can raise large amounts of money," doesn’t facilitate genuine connection with voters and "allows for winners by a plurality instead of a majority."
"I can promise that if you vote for Wright Bishop this June, you’re voting for election reform," Wright said in the statement. "It’s time to fix what’s been broken and create a clean process with a clear winner."
The signature-gathering path to the ballot, created by 2014’s SB54, remains unpopular among some Utah Republicans. It has led to situations like in 2018, when now-Sen. Mitt Romney lost the state party convention vote to Rep. Mike Kennedy and was forced into a primary, which Romney ultimately won handily.
With so many GOP candidates in the race, collecting the 28,000 signatures required to appear on the ballot is no sure thing; Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton announced last month that she had halted her attempts to gather signatures and will instead try to earn the nomination at the April party convention.
Wright used paid signature gatherers to earn his 28,000-plus; Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox submitted his signatures first, but has not yet announced their validation. Valid signatures must be from registered Republicans who have not already signed for another candidate.
The Republican and Democratic primaries will occur on June 30. Winder Newton, Cox, former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., former House Speaker Greg Hughes, businessman Jeff Burningham and businesswoman Jan Garbett are all vying for the nomination.
Zachary Moses and Chris Peterson have announced candidacies for the Democratic nomination.
