Phil Lyman wins over Republican Convention voters, moves on to June 25 primary election

by Bill Boyle
San Juan Record Editor
Phil Lyman, the San Juan County resident in the race for Governor of Utah, earned a spot on the June 25 Republican primary ballot with a resounding victory over incumbent Spencer Cox at the State Republican Convention on April 27.
Lyman earned 67 percent of the delegate votes to more than double Cox. Under prior party rules, earning more than 60 percent of the delegate vote would secure Lyman the outright nomination.
However, Cox was able to secure a spot on the primary ballot after gathering more than 30,000 signatures from registered Republicans. 
As a result, the two candidates will face off in the June 25 primary election, with the winner advancing as the Republican candidate on the November 5 general election ballot.
Despite significant support from the convention delegates, Lyman may face an uphill battle against Cox. 
While Lyman was the choice of delegates, recent polling data shows that the incumbent governor is extremely popular among the Republican voters who will participate in the primary election.
Lyman served for eight years on the San Juan County Commission and spent the past six years in the Utah House of Representatives.
The two finalists were among five Republican candidates for Governor at the convention. 
In a speech to the delegates before the first round, Lyman recounted his experience leading a 2014 protest in Recapture Canyon.  He was convicted of a federal offense for the ride and spent ten days in the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Washington County.
Lyman said he was advised by some to minimize discussion of his incarceration, but instead he has embraced it.  Of his goals as Governor, Lyman said, “I am not interested in building prisons, I am interested in building roads.”
Lyman was eventually pardoned by President Donald Trump during the final days of the Trump Administration.
After the first round of voting, the other three candidates for Governor were eliminated.  Lyman secured more than 44 percent of the vote in the first round of voting and his lead grew to the 67 percent in the final round.
It was clear at the convention that the thousands of miles and hundreds of hours that Lyman put into the effort to secure delegate support had been successful.  Red Lyman tee shirts were popular among delegates and his words were met with applause throughout the day.
The same could not be said of Governor Cox.  He was booed during his speech and spent much of his five minutes appearing to speak off-the-cuff to the delegates about why they did not support his candidacy.
In the end, Cox was soundly defeated by the delegates but still advances to the primary election, where he will be a heavy favorite.
Lyman hopes to build on the momentum from the state convention and challenge Cox in the primary election.
At the convention, Layne Bangerter was nominated as Lyman’s Lt Governor candidate. 
Bangerter served as an advisor in the Environmental Protection Agency during the Trump Administration.
Subsequently, the state elections office stated that Bangerter was not eligible to run based on a Utah Constitutional requirement that candidates be a citizen of the state for five years prior to running for office.
Bangerter was a resident of Idaho as late as 2021.  The Lyman campaign filed a lawsuit over the ruling.
At the recent convention, delegates also voted on a number of state races, including representatives in Congress and the Utah state legislature, and spots on the state school board.
In the race to replace Lyman in the Utah House of Representatives, Moab resident Lynn Jackson and Blanding Mayor Logan Monson will meet in a primary election race.  A third candidate, Doug Heaton of Kane County, was eliminated at the convention.
The day was marked by a series of organizational, technological, and other challenges.  Two-and-one-half hours into the convention, the agenda was two hours behind schedule.  
The agenda said the work would be done by 6 p.m., but the convention finally gaveled to a close just before midnight, despite unfinished business. 
One reason that the convention finally closed is that the Salt Palace Convention Center had been rented for the day and the party faced additional charges if use spilled over into Sunday.
Lyman’s success at the state convention is the farthest a local candidate has gone in a state or federal race since 1976. 
At the 1976 state convention, San Juan County Commissioner Calvin Black won handily over Joe Ferguson, earning 69 percent of the delegate vote. 
At the time, candidates needed 70 percent of the vote to avoid a primary race. As a result, Black and Ferguson faced off in the primary election and Ferguson won.