Spencer J. Cox

Spencer J. Cox is the Governor of Utah, and was running for reelection as Lieutenant Governor with Gary Johnson in the November 2016 Election, Utah.

2023 and 2024 have seen Spencer Cox make some very positive moves. However, prior actions lead us to question his honesty and principles. Until recently, we have doubted his leadership merely due to his association with former Governor Gary R. Herbert, but the dishonest justification for his veto of 2022's HB 11, along with the poor judgement demonstrated by what he described wanting to see come out of such legislation, has us particularly worried. Being the first Republican Governor to declare a Pride Month in Utah also sets him apart as someone who leads in all the wrong ways. Our assessment of his recent activity is that he's starting to see that Utah is waking up to the dangers that trans activists pose to their children, and will scrutinize him more in the future. His tweet regarding Texas's actions on the border, however, further suggests something more broadly conservative may be guiding his actions. We will feel more confident in him as a leader when we notice him taking positive actions more than saying pleasing words.

2024

Spencer Cox tweeted support for Texas's efforts to take over control of their southern border in spite of the United States Supreme Court ruling against them.

2023

Spencer Cox's 2023 Pride Month declaration was called out for lacking any reference to LGBTQ+ people, unlike his prior declarations.

Spencer Cox signed legislation banning clinics from providing abortions.

2022

Project Veritas was in Utah with an undercover tape of John Curtis's Field Director revealing some things that John Curtis's campaign explicitly desires to keep hidden. Pertinent to Spencer Cox, however, John Curtis's Field Director expressed surprise that Spencer Cox would have supported the trigger laws that Utah has in place.

Spencer Cox has expressed that he does not intend to pursue expanding abortion restrictions outside of the context of existing trigger laws which would take effect were Roe v. Wade overturned.

Spencer Cox vetoed a bill that restricted trans women from participating in women's school sports during competitions between schools, stating "rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few." (Contrary to the facts, reporting has described the bill as a flat ban on trans athletes competing in school sports. Even Spencer Cox describes the bill as such when he explains why he vetoed the bill.) Spencer Cox described that what he had wanted was for a comission to be designated which would decide whether students could participate, on an individual basis.

2021

Spencer Cox's was the only Republican Governor to declare a Pride Month for his state.

2016

He has declared that without major changes, he will not be voting for Trump, stating further that "if there were some major changes to Trump, I think there's a way many of us could support him, but he hasn't shown any inclination toward those changes or doing things differently, so I think it's a long shot that he will change". He has expressed that he is considering Gary Johnson, Evan McMullin, or a write-in.

External Resources

• "Lt. Gov. Cox speaks at vigil for Orlando: 'My heart has changed'", KSL, 14 Jun 2016