Utah’s Primary For Attorney General

By · Jun 19, 2020 · 2 min read

While the race for governor is the most high-profile contest on the ballot come June 30th, the other statewide race is the Republican primary for Attorney General: a surprisingly close contest between incumbent Sean Reyes and challenger David Leavitt.

The Role of an Attorney General

The main role of an attorney general (AG) is to uphold both the federal and state constitutions. They are, first and foremost, the lawyers of state governments: they defend their state in any lawsuits brought against it (though when state and federal laws conflict, AGs can decline to defend the state), bring enforcement actions if a regulation is violated, and can bring cases in certain areas, like consumer protection/antitrust in their own name against an organization.

It is often state AGs who will sue the federal government over laws they view as unconstitutional: examples include the lawsuit led by Texas’ Attorney General to declare the Affordable Care Act unlawful, a lawsuit backing the repeal of employment protections for LGBTQ+ employees that the Supreme Court ruled against last Monday, and a successful challenge against the Waters of the United States Rule that sought to expand the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act—all lawsuits signed onto or led by Reyes during his tenure.

The Race

Now, Reyes, the current Attorney General, is seeking a third term. He was appointed by Governor Herbert after the resignation of the scandal-plagued John Swallow in 2013. Since then, he has served on several committees of the National Association of Attorneys General, of which he currently chairs the Human Trafficking Committee, as well as the Conference of Western Attorneys General. Despite his pledge to restore honor to the office after its two predecessors left amid scandal, Reyes has faced his own allegations, most notably that of the state’s relationship to Banjo. The attorney general’s office bypassed the normal procurement process to secure a contract for the surveillance company, whose leader was revealed to have ties to white supremacy groups and is now under investigation.

He faces steep challenge in David Leavitt, a Utah County attorney who has centered his campaign around criminal justice reform, calling it the “issue of our generation”. He seeks to lessen the number of cases that are decided by plea bargain rather than jury trial (a cause which Reyes calls “quixotic” and “unrealistic”) and to find alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders. On other issues, he is politically similar to Reyes: he supports the lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, and both support the legalization of medical cannabis at the federal level. Leavitt, however, spent much of the past two decades in Ukraine advising the government, prompting accusations that he doesn’t know what’s best for Utah.

The race between the two is tight, and undecided voters outweigh either Reyes’ or Leavitt’s supporters: in the most recent poll, Reyes led Levitt 30.8% to 26%, but 43.2% of voters surveyed were undecided. Such low numbers for an incumbent are strange, as David Magleby at BYU states: “[Reyes]…performed in a way that should have reassured the Republican base”, so “you would think he would be at or above 50%.” Instead, the race could swing either way, and neither candidate has much more time to make their pitches to voters.

Whoever wins will face Democratic nominee Greg Skordas, a longtime defense attorney who also ran for the post in 2004.

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