The new political action committee, formed by Republicans, supports candidates who emphasize partisan problem-solving. The former Republican governor is trying to eradicate political trash stories. And the push to redraw the map of Congress that could reclaim the Democratic House district has been underpinned by the Republican-controlled state Supreme Court.
President Trump pursues a right-wing agenda at a boring speed, with Democrats retreating and “Never Trump” conservatives becoming rare, one of the 50 states is kinder, more gentler and more comfortable It remains a civil republican red.
Utah.
Traditionally, deep red, Utah moved to the right only 1 percentage point in the 2024 election. One major reason is that members of the Latter-day Saints’ Church of Jesus Christ, which constitute a vast and once certainly conservative segment of Utah’s population, are drifting from the GOP.
The Utah-based church counts 2.2 million people as members there – about three of its five residents, but other estimates show that around 42% of Utane practice Mormons. It suggests that there is.
Trump’s language has made immigrants laugh, repel women into despicable women, and Latter-day sacred voters who have a significant presence in Arizona have played a key role in turning that swing state blue in 2020. It’s done. Former Vice President Kamala Harris rose from 23% who voted for Democrats in 2020, according to a FOX News analysis of Associated Press’ voting data.
Utah still supported Trump with 21 points, but the central right Republican, who is displeased with Trump’s conflicting political brand, is in sync with former Latter-day Saint Sen. Mitt Romney, who denied Trump. It’s there. It has gained new momentum and pushed it away from the party’s mag wings to take the state’s voters away.
Although they are often reluctant to openly criticize the president, we can see their efforts to successfully fine-tune the nation at all levels of Utah politics.
Perhaps most aggressive is the steering group, a PAC, founded by former Republican Rep. Becky Edwards, who challenged Trump’s ally Sen. Mike Lee in 2023. -way primary. However, her organization supports candidates beyond citizen discourse and willingness to commit to problem-solving, rather than her own policies.
“We’ve seen this polarization and the magnetic pull to the type of dialogue that we don’t think we’ll get closer to policies that support the American people,” Edwards said. “Overwhelmingly, what we’re hearing is that people are really tired of that kind of conversation.”
The governing group that helped the candidates run the campaign last year spent only about $350,000, but has earned some upset at the state and local levels. , 25 wins, including about 12 people in a highly competitive race. And Edwards said her team remains the winner’s soundboard.
Another promising sign for those seeking to curb the partisan battle is that last year, when the state Supreme Court rejected a voter-backed vote initiative that created an independent rezoning committee, Congress said. He was caught up in a gerrymander fight when he found him violated. The council map, which came into effect in 2021, divided the massive democratic Salt Lake City area into four districts. A group that includes nonpartisan Mormon women for ethical government has been sued, and the matter is currently in lawsuit in district court. Plaintiff’s victory could lead to a redrawn map in at least one competitive home district.
Many Utah leaders are trying to promote the courtesy of the next generation of political practitioners.
At the State Capitol, former church governor Gary Herbert recently spoke to a group of university interns on the importance of moral character.
“We have politicians who are good at calling people’s names. A harsh language may help you select candidates, he added, “But that’s a problem. It won’t solve the problem.”
Herbert is also an advisor to the Utah-based initiative, known as the Dignity Index, and scores politicians’ speeches on an 8-point scale. The lowest score is reserved for the expression of light empt and call for violence against the enemy. The best is awarded to those who treat others with dignity. (Harris won several threes in the presidential debate last fall, but Trump was tagged twice.)
Index supporters are working with the university’s campus and are asking politicians to sign a pledge to improve rhetoric tenors, said Index co-creator Tami Pifer.
“You have to build a district that demands dignity, and you have to give it to someone who votes for that district,” she said.
The sunlight between Trump and many Utah Republicans is more than just going beyond his smashmouth, dominating style politics.
Latter-day Saints say many people are on duty abroad and are likely to sympathize with immigrants and refugees as the early Mormon pioneers were refugees. And Mormon women were at the forefront of their shift away from Trump. Some people are Roev. After seeing the consequences of Wade’s overthrow, he said he reconsidered his lifelong opposition to abortion.
Mormon also received nudges from church leaders. Church leaders urged members in a 2023 letter to not vote reflexively for one party under the vote without careful consideration.
Still, it’s easy to create an anti-Maga mood among Latter-day saints.
Sen. John Curtis, a member of the LDS, said he was not afraid of him breaking into Trump, urged the Uttans, who hoped he would take after Romney, his Senate successor. But Curtis is not opposed to Trump’s most controversial cabinet nomination.
And even a longtime Trump critic of Utah, a church member and longtime Trump who launched an initiative called Athlee Better in 2023, urged Americans to work through political conflict in a positive way. -Even Trump supported last summer.
To put it further, Trump’s most outspoken admirers of Utah scoff at Center Wright’s amazing things.
Trump supporter Phil Lyman, who challenged Cox last year, said politicians like Cox are hypocritical.
Lyman, who had trouble with the signature collection process in last year’s Republican primary, failed to expel both Cox as a Republican candidate and oust him from office. He also alleged that Cox’s supporters tried to confuse voters by having another man named Lyman run to the governor as well.
“They say they want to create a ‘dignity index’ so that they can monitor everything you say. And then decide whether you’re good or not. If not, things won’t work very well for you,” he said. “They don’t practice “opposite.”
There are subtle indications that the church is clearly promoting non-trumpian-style politics, at least on the campus of Brigham Young University.
Every Tuesday morning, students submit spiritual “prayer” speeches by religious leaders or scholars to the arena, emphasizing the importance of dignity and respect. This statement rarely transforms into an openly political realm. However, some students say they see the weekly message that is incompatible with Trump’s worldview.
The speaker “inspires students’ bodies to work with the world around them and have hope,” said senior Scott Sawaya, 23. “I think that contrasts with the current fear and scapegoating seen in the Magazine movement.”
On a recent morning, Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia, defends the constitution to students, saying that James Madison was worried about overlooking a “mob democracy oversight.” I begged him to do so. Citing social media, he said that Americans “do not listen to other perspectives, do not deliberate with respect, and live in Madison’s nightmare version in that way.” I stated.
Henry Demke, a 21-year-old junior who attended Rosen’s speech, said she is a Republican, but voted for Harris last year.
“We were taught in the church that the spirit of fear belongs to the devil,” she said.
