ELECTIONS, POLITICS, & GOVERNMENT
Gov. Cox says he’s willing to call a special session to change Utah special election law
Jun 5, 2023, 12:00 PM | Updated: Jun 27, 2023, 3:27 pm
FILE: Representatives meet in the House chamber during the first special legislative session of 2023 at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Gov Cox. said he is willing to call another special session to address a special election to replace Rep. Chris Stewart, who will resign. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Editor’s note: The headline of this story was changed to reflect that Gov. Cox is willing to call a special session. A previous version indicated the Gov. would call the session. KSL NewsRadio regrets the error.
SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox said he is willing to call the Utah legislature into a special session to change Utah’s special election law.
The announcement is a reaction to Rep. Chris Stewart’s impending early resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives.
#BREAKING @GovCox says he’s willing to call the #utleg into a special session so Utah’s #CD2 seat doesn’t go unfilled.
“I don’t want to leave this seat open any longer than we have to..If we have to change the law to do that then we’re willing to call them in.”@kslnewsradio
— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) June 5, 2023
Under current Utah law, the 2nd Congressional District seat would stay vacant through at least March of 2024 because the soonest a general election could be held would be in March of next year.
The governor said he doesn’t want that seat to go without representation for that long and that his office will determine election dates over the next couple of days.
This story will be updated.
Related:
- Utah House leader signals change to special election law to fill Rep. Stewart’s seat
- Candidates starting to line up as potential replacement for Rep. Stewart
- Congressman Chris Stewart announces resignation
- Utah party chairs react to special election, both confident of a win
