Incumbent Rob Axson defeats Phil Lyman in vote to lead Utah GOP

OREM — Utah Republican Party Chairman Rob Axson will serve another two years at the helm of the state's largest political party after narrowly defeating challenger Phil Lyman at the party's organizing convention at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday.

The result is the latest setback for Lyman but a win for the party's mainstream wing as Axson was endorsed by President Donald Trump and Utah Sen. Mike Lee, along with many elected officials in the state. Axson edged out Lyman 1340-1215, after the tally of the hand-counted ballots was complete Saturday afternoon.

Axson ran on a platform of party unity and told reporters he wants to build the party going forward.

"I think delegates want to see something more," he said. "They want to see additional momentum. They want to see growth. They've seen what I've delivered over the last two years. ... Let's build from there."

Lee, a convention darling, took the stage several hours into the event to back Axson for party chairman, saying he couldn't think of "anyone — not one person — who has done more to bring about a defense of the caucus-convention system."

"I can't think of anyone who has done more to mobilize and unify our delegate base," he said. "And so, it's with great pleasure, my honor to endorse and wholeheartedly support my friend Robert Axson to be our party chair."

Axson touted his record on fundraising and party organizing over the past two years, and criticized the law allowing candidates to gather signatures to get on the ballot. But, he said, his approach to overturning the law is through a united party that welcomes a broad range of ideas.

"Delegates and fellow Utahns, strength comes from learning and it comes from building, not through burning," he said.

The more than 2,600 delegates in attendance voted early on to strike a proposed amendment to the party's constitution from the agenda. The proposal in question would have stripped party membership from any candidate who chose to gather signatures to qualify for the primary ballot. But the proposal's sponsor, Arnold Gaunt, motioned to have it removed, saying there is a better way for the party to address its longstanding anger over the dual path to Utah's primary ballot.

Some delegates speculated that the party's state central committee could revisit the issue down the line, but what would have been one of the most closely-watched issues at the convention was never brought up for debate.

Lyman took the stage to loud applause from his most vocal supporters, many of them clad in "Make Utah Great Again" hats and shirts. His six-minute speech wove together comparisons between biblical parables, the Boston Tea Party and the Salem witch trials.

Several Lyman supporters said they viewed the speech as comparing the pushback they receive from some party members to the persecution faced by women accused of witchcraft in the 17th century.

"We found out that you can't put the collective conscience in the hands of government or in the hands of judges or even in the hands of churches. It belongs to the people," Lyman said. "And we saw some people whose lives were destroyed by their own neighbors with the best of intention, trying to protect themselves."

Lyman recalled being told by someone, "You will never win. That's like David and Goliath."

"And I said: 'No. 1, I'm not interested in any other fight,'" Lyman said. "'And No. 2: You should read that story again.'"

Lyman's refusal to concede after losing last year's gubernatorial primary and subsequent efforts to have that election thrown out drew condemnation from many party insiders who accused him of dividing the GOP. Some see his campaign to lead the party in the same way, with one Axson supporter calling Lyman a "kamikaze pilot" — referencing his unsuccessful track record in elections and with the courts.

Lee calls for Legislature to overturn SB54

During a brief address to delegates while they were voting for party chairman, Lee urged Gov. Spencer Cox to call a special legislative session to undo SB54, the law that created the dual path to the ballot. Lee called the law a "nearly impenetrable" wall that "locks (Republicans) in, but doesn't keep others out — others who don't belong in our party."

"Mr. Governor, I call for you to tear down that wall," Lee said. "I ask you to convene a special legislative session as soon as possible, bring the Legislature together ... and ask the Legislature to restore the caucus and convention system."

Republicans, Lee included, have long called for the law to be overturned, but lawmakers have yet to take the issue up. Utah law requires that qualified political parties let candidates collect signatures, but many delegates think ballot access should be determined by the winners at the party nominating conventions.

Lee implied the law puts undue pressure on the party, which he said should have discretion over which candidates can appear on the ballot.

"The Utah Republican Party is not a government and it's not supposed to be subject to the state's authorities, in the sense that the government should never be able to tell the political party who to elect as party chair and it should never be able to tell us who to nominate or how to go about that. Who's with me?"

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