Utah Politics

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was loudly booed by Utah Republicans at their state convention last week. It was an astonishing development given he was the party’s presidential nominee less than a decade ago. 

We’re joined this week by political strategist Mike Madrid, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project and the former political director of the California GOP. He says the Republican base is radicalizing, mostly because of former President Donald Trump. That change will have profound impacts on our politics, and will likely lead the party to political ruin. 

Madrid also says the Democratic Party is not immune to radical elements, which is leading both parties away from the political center. 

Mike Madrid on Twitter: @Madrid_Mike

Subscribe to the podcast for free here.

Utah Republican Party Chairman Derek Brown decided to step down from helming Utah’s dominant political organization after one term.

He joins the podcast this week to discuss what he accomplished during his two years in charge, the challenges his successor will face, and what’s next for him. He also talks about some long-term issues that could impact Utah’s political environment, and how former President Donald Trump has altered the Republican Party. 

Subscribe to the podcast for free here. 

Utah lawmakers are planning to study whether the state can ignore or refuse to enforce new federal laws to restrict firearms. Several other states are considering similar legislation.

Adam Skaggs from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence joins is our guest this week. He discusses the push to expand gun rights in Republican-led states, Utah’s move to end the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in public, and the intersection of gun violence and mental health. 

Republican Rep. Blake Moore says he’s interested in working with Democrats on a package to fund needed infrastructure especially if it will benefit parts of his district.

“Ogden has a rapid transit system coming in that’s going to be really great for students. Park City may get the Olympics again, so there may be some ways we can support that and tourism,” he says. “There’s lots of that stuff that can get put into highway bills, so I’ll absolutely work with the Democrats.”

But Moore says he is not fond of President Joe Biden’s proposed corporate tax hikes to help pay the bill.

“I don’t want to put companies through another change in their tax system,” he says. “We have to make sure that any tax increase could impact middle-class jobs.”

Also this week on the podcast, we talk with newly-elected Salt Lake County GOP Chairman Chris Null.

Subscribe to the podcast for free.

Former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz joins the podcast this week to discuss his brand new book.

In They Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: The Truth About Disaster Liberalism, Chaffetz argues Democrats, and sometimes Republicans, use the pretense of an emergency situation to push through unrelated policy proposals. 

“They take these crises and try to leverage those to do something they wouldn’t ever, ever be able to do otherwise,” says Chaffetz.

Chaffetz also talks about the massive infrastructure spending package proposed by President Joe Biden, and what it means to be a political conservative after four years of Donald Trump. 

Additionally, Chaffetz talks about his new podcast “Jason in the House,” whether he’s planning on running against Sen. Mitt Romney in 2024, and former House Speaker John Boehner.

Subscribe to the podcast for free. 

Sen. Mike Lee recently traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to observe the growing humanitarian crisis there. He discusses what he saw and whether Congress can find any common ground to address immigration issues.

Lee also discusses vaccine passports, government spending and his sometimes inelegant use of hyperbolic language.

An explosive story from The Salt Lake Tribune rocked the Salt Lake County GOP with several women making allegations of harassment and a toxic atmosphere that was ignored by party leaders. Party chair Scott Miller resigned shortly after the story was published. Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton was one of those women. She discusses her experience and some of the hurdles women face when entering Utah politics.

You can subscribe to the podcast for free here.

A pair of bills passed by lawmakers during the 2021 Utah Legislature raised significant questions about the role of government in policing free speech.

The first, SB228 from Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, aimed to put regulations on how social media companies moderate online content. Critics warned the bill was likely unconstitutional or would be pre-empted by existing federal law. Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed it earlier this week.

The second, HB72, dubbed the “porn filter” bill, requires all new cell phones and tablets sold in Utah to have adult content filters turned on by default.

We’re joined by First Amendment lawyer Ari Cohn who discusses why these bills violate free speech protections in the Constitution. He also says lawmakers, and the public, need to gain a better understanding of how the First Amendment works.

Ari Cohn on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast for free here.

This week, we're joined by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.

He discusses his first legislative session as the state's chief executive, which bills he may consider vetoing, and how he negotiated with lawmakers to set April 10 as the day for ending Utah's statewide mask mandate.

He also talks about the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill passed by Congress and we get his thoughts on raising the minimum wage.

Subscribe to the podcast for free. 

The 2021 Utah Legislature is winding down. During the last 45 days, lawmakers set the state's $22 billion budget, which included more than $400 million in new education funding and more than $1 billion for transportation projects.

This week, we sit down for separate conversations with House Speaker Brad Wilson and Senate President Stuart Adams to wrap up the 2020 session. We discuss what they were able to accomplish during a pandemic, this year's unexpected budget bonanza and navigating a relationship with a new governor.

Don't forget to leave a rating and review for the show. You can subscribe to the podcast here. 

This week legislative leaders introduced what they say is the largest transportation funding proposal in the history of Utah.

HB433 contains $2.26 billion in spending on transit and infrastructure projects. Part of that spending package is $1.4 billion in bonding.

House Majority Whip Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, joins the podcast to discuss why he thinks it's a good time for the state to borrow billions of dollars even though there's a record amount of extra money to spend this year.

Also joining the program is Sen. Dan McCay to speak on HB205. That bill gives political parties the power to decide how their candidates reach the primary ballot. Critics say the bill undoes the SB54 compromise which established the signature path to the primary ballot.

Don't forget to leave a rating and review for the show. You can subscribe to the podcast here.