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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah House Majority Leader Mike Schultz won an internal election to be the Republican caucus nominee for House speaker on Tuesday evening.
Schultz, a Republican, won a closed-door vote among his colleagues and, although the House of Representatives won't take an official vote for speaker until Wednesday, he's all but assured to replace outgoing House Speaker Brad Wilson in the role, given that the GOP holds 61 of the state's 75 House seats.
Schultz, a contractor from Hooper, Weber County, was first elected in 2014.
During a press conference shortly after the vote, Schultz declined to lay out policy priorities until the caucus meets Wednesday to discuss the upcoming session in more detail, but insisted that the chamber plans to put Utahns first.
"One of the things that Speaker Wilson taught us is that we need to focus on the big things," Schultz said. While the House is designed to be closer to the voters and therefore more "reactionary," he said he also wants "to think bigger than that — we want to think long-term."
Although Schultz won support from his caucus, he still needs to be elected by a majority of all House members. House Republicans held elections Tuesday for other caucus leadership positions, which do not need approval from the entire chamber.
Both current members of the leadership team moved up to fill the role vacated by Schultz, with Rep. Jefferson Moss, R-Saratoga Springs, chosen as the new House majority leader and Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, elected majority whip.
Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, who led the House Rules Committee, was picked to serve as assistant majority whip.
'A little bit of competition'
Schultz began the news conference by thanking his colleagues who challenged sitting members of leadership for their roles, and praised the civility he said was demonstrated by the caucus following the vote. He drew a contrast to the recent skirmishes within the U.S. House GOP caucus to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his role and eventually fill it by electing Rep. Mike Johnson as speaker.
"We appreciate those that challenged the members of leadership; I think that's always a good process. It makes us all better if there's a little bit of competition," he said. "I think the thing that is most exciting is how we still come together. I mean, we all were challenged to be in these positions that we're in, but you won't hear one negative thing said about those that challenged us, and going through this leadership election race, I didn't hear one negative thing said about any of the members sitting here."
"I think that says a lot about our caucus," he added. "I think it says a lot about the state of Utah. The citizens of the state should be proud of who they send to Capitol Hill."
Schultz also emphasized a declining trust in government institutions, saying: "I want the House of Representatives to earn some of that trust back."
While he didn't address specific policies, Schultz said he expects energy to be a key issue during the upcoming legislative session.
"For the first year this past year, Utah doesn't produce enough energy; we had to import it from other states," he said. "That's a place I don't think any of us want to be."
What's next?
Wilson's resignation from the role is effective Wednesday at 5 p.m. as he prepares to focus full time on his 2024 Senate campaign. The full Utah House of Representatives will meet in an extraordinary session starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday to elect his replacement.
With Snider moving up from the House Rules Committee, Schultz said the leadership team will confer to select his replacement as chair.
"We have not had serious discussions about that but that will come up the next couple weeks," he said.
The new leadership may consider shuffling other committee assignments around, although Schultz said he doesn't expect any major changes.
Schultz defeated Rep. Melissa Garff Ballard, R-North Salt Lake, to win support from his caucus. The race largely focused on internal caucus issues, with Ballard looking to increase efficiency within the caucus and Schultz wishing to see House leadership improve messaging to the public.
Schultz will serve as speaker for the remaining year of Wilson's term. Wilson was first elected to the House in 2010 and was elected speaker in 2018.
