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After 1 term, Utah GOP Chair Carson Jorgensen says it’s time for a new party leader

Utah GOP Chair Carson Jorgensen addresses the crowd at the Republican Party's election watch party in downtown Salt Lake City, Nov. 8, 2022
Brian Albers
/
KUER
Utah GOP Chair Carson Jorgensen addresses the crowd at the Republican Party's election watch party in downtown Salt Lake City, Nov. 8, 2022

After serving one term as Utah Republican Party chair, Carson Jorgensen has decided it’s time to let someone else take the reins.

Before he became chair, Jorgensen described the party as “dysfunctional,” with loads of debt and a lot of factions “trying to kill each other.” He stepped in with one main goal: to unify Republicans around common goals.

“What we needed from the party was for the party to really redefine itself.”

And Jorgensen feels like he’s done just that.

During his short tenure, he said he lifted the party out of debt, secured Republican county commissioners' and seats in the state Legislature and pushed back against the status quo — even if other Republicans believed he was too hard right.

To him, one of his biggest accomplishments was dismantling the nonpartisan Utah Debate Commission’s involvement in primary election debates. During the 2022 election, the GOP selected its own moderators instead of leaving the decision up to the commission.

“That was where I kind of cut my teeth and told everybody I wasn't screwing around anymore,” he said. “Just because that's how it's always been done, doesn't mean it's right.”

He also helped three Republicans win in races against Democratic legislative incumbents. Two of those seats were in very purple districts along the Salt Lake Valley and still remain vulnerable heading into the 2024 election.

Those successes, Jorgensen said, speak to his ability to get “people pulling in the same direction” and “all surrounded around the same goal.”

Even with those feathers in his hat, he feels like he’s utilized his skill set to the best of his ability. Jorgensen said the party now needs a leader that can raise more money, host more events, work with big donors and have “a little bit more of a systematic approach” to take the party “to the next level.”

AP — Utah GOP state party chair, Carson Jorgensen, election night 2022, June 28, 202
George Frey
/
AP
Utah Republican Party Chair Carson Jorgensen speaks during a Utah Republican primary election night party on June 28, 2022, in South Jordan, Utah.

“The party, to continue to remain relevant, is going to have to become its own election-winning machine,” he said, “so that people can and must engage with the party if they want to succeed in this deal.”

He doesn’t believe they are doing that right now, despite Republicans dominating the executive and legislative branches. Rather, he argued because the state is majority Republican, that allowed candidates to “basically just do whatever they want and skip the party in and of itself.”

During the 2023 Utah Legislative Session, Jorgensen backed a bill that would allow candidates to skip straight to the general election ballot if they garnered at least 70% of the delegate vote at the convention. As a result, candidates who gathered enough signatures to land on the primary election ballot would be knocked out of the race.

Jorgensen said SB393 would give GOP candidates the path to say “they believe in the party platform” without having the voting record to back that up.

Lawmakers didn’t pass the bill this time around but it could be worked on during the interim and reintroduced next session.

When it comes to keeping Republicans elected in purple areas, like districts within the Salt Lake Valley, Jorgensen acknowledges there is a need for more moderate candidates.

“But we're not going to move the party and we're not going to change the party to fit each and every person. Because once you start down that road, there's no end to where it goes.”

To keep the party aligned, Jorgensen said they cannot center around a single person. But he would like his successor to lean the party more toward the Sen. Mike Lee Republican way.

“We just want to be free. We don't want the government taking more than what belongs to the government,” Jorgensen said.

Mike Bird, the current Treasure of the Utah Republican Party, has announced his candidacy to replace Jorgensen. He’s served as Treasure for the last four years under two different leadership teams and helped clear up the party’s outstanding debt.

Bird believes he has the necessary skills to take the party further based on his experience in the party, understanding its financial need and knowing how to run conventions, caucuses and fundraisers.

“You need to be able to have the skills to help organize, strategically, plan and build relationships,” he said. “I have experience with people. I have experience with fundraising. I have experience with strategic organization and planning.”

He’ll focus on two main areas if he becomes chair: growing the party and unified messaging.

Bird is concerned because despite Utah being one of the fast-growing states in the nation, the party has only grown around 40% within the last decade. Whereas the Democratic voter affiliation has grown by nearly 90%.

To bolster participation, Bird said the party has to focus on young, disengaged and unaffiliated voters.

“If we continue to kind of not focus on growing our party and our members, then we definitely will lose influence in various areas.”

Bird would like to see more convention participation and believes bills like SB393 would bolster involvement within the party. He said it’s “only a matter of time” before there is broad support behind returning to a caucus system to land on the ballot.

Another problem is divisiveness within the party. Bird recognizes the disconnect and believes they could do a better job of educating members about what their platform is.

To Bird, the Republican platform is “really encompassing” and echoes Jorgensen’s perception of the party’s values.

“How involved should our federal government be in our sovereign states' rights? How involved should the federal government be in the lives of its citizens?” Bird said.

There have also been rumblings of Robert Axson, the current state director for Sen. Mike Lee, joining the race. He did not return KUER’s request for comment, but Axson has until March 16 to file if he is running.

While he’s done being the face of the GOP, Jorgensen hasn’t counted himself out of Utah politics altogether. He’s flirting with a possible run for state office, although he hasn’t made a firm decision on whether he’ll campaign for a position in 2024.

In the meantime, Jorgensen is turning his attention to something in his blood: agriculture. As a sixth-generation Utah sheep farmer, he’s concerned about the amount of food, specifically meat, America is importing. Instead, he wants to work on providing farmers with the necessary support to bolster in-house food production.

Jorgensen will remain the GOP chair until party delegates choose the next one on April 22.

Whoever the next party chair is, Jorgensen has this piece of advice: “Do what you say and say what you mean.”

Saige is a politics reporter and co-host of KUER's State Street politics podcast
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