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SALT LAKE CITY — The year-old United Utah Party is fielding candidates in three of the four congressional races on the 2018 ballot, in the hopes of making good on the goal of becoming the second-most popular political party in the state.
"I think it demonstrates that we're here to stay. We're not going away," said United Utah spokesman Jim Bennett, a former Republican who helped found the party as an alterative to the partisan extremes within the GOP and the Democrats.
Bennett, who ran as the first-ever United Utah candidate in last year's special election to replace former Rep. Jason Chaffetz in the 3rd Congressional District, served as the keynote speaker at the party's state convention Saturday in Midvale.
Besides congressional races, there are United Utah Party candidates running in 15 state legislative races and for the Utah County Commission. But there aren't any in the high-profile races for U.S. Senate and the 4th Congressional District
"Mitt Romney, I think, is already the defacto senator. I don't think there's any real doubt that Mitt Romney is going to win that race," Bennett said, adding that he turned down requests to run for the Senate.
"I didn't want to lose," said Bennett, the son of the late Sen. Bob Bennett who was ousted at the 2010 GOP state convention by tea party activists after serving three terms in office.
Bennett said the United Utah Party attempted to recruit Romney as a Senate candidate before Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, announced in January that he would retire rather than seek an eighth term.
Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, faces a June primary against state Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, after coming in second among delegates to the recent Republican state convention.
Utah Democrats, who held their state convention Saturday, nominated Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson as their Senate candidate.
The United Utah Party missed out on the attention Romney is bringing to the race by not having a Senate candidate, University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said.
"This is a lost opportunity," Burbank said, because the national focus on the Utah Senate race would have been "clearly beneficial to a new party that is trying to establish itself."
The United Utah Party could have had even more impact in the 4th District, where Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, is considered the most vulnerable of the state's all-Republican congressional delegation, according to Burbank.
Love had no Republican opposition and Utah Democrats nominated Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams to take her on in the November election.
Burbank said if a third-party candidate had the support of even 10 percent of the voters in the 4th District, it would "matter a huge amount" given how competitive the race is expected to be.
But he said although not being part of the big races may make it hard for the United Utah Party to overtake Democrats this year, it's really "a long-term undertaking. It's not something that's going to occur with one good election cycle."
United Utah Party Chairman Richard Davis isn't ready to give up on the goal.
"Those are the ones that everyone is watching," Davis said of the Senate and 4th District races. "That doesn't mean we can't do some sleeper candidates that surprise people."
He said there are two ways for the United Utah Party to win this election year.
"One is to actually beat the incumbent. The other is to beat the Democrat. I think that would be a major story," Davis said. He pointed out that there are no Democrats in several legislative races where United Utah candidates are running.
United Utah delegates nominated Eric Eliason in the 1st Congressional District for the seat held by Rep. Rob Bishop; Jan Garbett in the 2nd to replace Rep. Chris Stewart; and Melanie McCoard in the 3rd, represented by Rep. John Curtis.
Curtis is the only U.S. House member from Utah who faces a primary, against former state Rep. Chris Herrod. Bishop and Stewart defeated their Republican challengers at convention.
Democrats picked Shireen Ghorbani in the 2nd Congressional District and James Singer in the 3rd as their candidates, but sent Kurt Weiland and Leo Castillo to a primary in the 1st.
Both Bennett and Davis have their sights set on the 1st and 2nd congressional district races, since their party's candidates have considerable resources. Eliason has contributed $92,000 to his race and Garbett has loaned her campaign $120,500.
"That says something, when you have two candidates who are independently wealthy and they're willing" to fund their own campaigns, Davis said. He said it signals they're serious about winning.
State Elections Director Justin Lee said there are currently 544 active members of the United Utah Party, compared to about 154,000 Democrats and some 635,000 Republicans.
Other third parties recognized by the state, Lee said, have between about 4,500 and 24,500 active members.
"I don't think the numbers indicate support," Davis said, noting Bennett received more than 13,000 votes in 2017's special congressional election. "That's not the gauge of success. The gauge is, do we elect candidates."
Correction: An earlier version incorrectly identified James Singer as John Singer.
