Ballots go out to Utah voters in about 50 days, and the 2026 midterms are 70 days away. The Salt Lake County Republican Party’s central committee spent seven hours of one of those days trying to oust its chair, Mike Carey, and voting to reinstate a former vice chair removed from office in June, even though party bylaws don't allow it.
Saturday's meeting was supposed to give the party's governing body its first look at the playbook for 2026. Instead, it became the latest flashpoint in a months-long grievance campaign that has consumed the party.
"The midterms in Salt Lake County are the most important in the state," Carey told committee members. "With 34% of the state's population, whichever direction Salt Lake County goes, the rest of the state follows."
That message got lost. Instead of focusing on winning elections, the meeting was dominated by a small group of party dissidents pressing grievances that date back to February.
How it started
In February, the party disciplined seven members for leveling false claims of election interference against party leaders stemming from a plan to endorse candidates in municipal elections. The members had sent letters to prosecutors in several Utah cities and the U.S. Justice Department urging charges against party officers. In response, the party removed them from their positions and imposed multiyear bans from party events.
In June, the fallout reached the party’s second-highest office. The executive committee voted to remove Vice Chair Sara Montes, finding her "unwilling or incapable" of fulfilling her duties. The committee cited several reasons: Montes had recused herself from the February disciplinary meeting, then publicly criticized the punishments handed down to the other members. During a May central committee meeting, an effort to overturn those punishments failed by a single vote. During the debate, Montes left her position on the dais to whip votes in favor of overturning the decision. She also publicly questioned the legitimacy of the vote count.
“An officer who will not accept the decisions of the two bodies she serves as an officer cannot discharge those duties,” Carey said Saturday.
Steve Aste, who sponsored Saturday’s resolution to reinstate Montes, rejected that reasoning. "Sarah is willing, Sarah is capable, and her work proves that she did not limit her service to the events that were convenient or visible. She showed up," he said.
The resolution to reinstate Montes passed, though it's unclear whether it's enforceable. The bylaw used to remove her leaves the "unwilling or incapable" determination up to the other officers' judgment, giving them wide discretion, and it includes no process for the central committee to overturn that call.
“In my opinion, this bylaw sucks,” said Kriby Glad, who served as the meeting’s parliamentarian. But Glad also told members repeatedly that they're bound by it regardless: "Here's the reality: you can vote to reinstate, but the executive committee can meet tomorrow and vote to remove again, and you'll be right back here."
What happens to Montes now is unclear, because the reinstatement vote is likely unenforceable. She thanked committee members afterward and said she plans to help candidates with their social media ahead of the election.
The push to remove Carey
Next came the main event: a resolution to remove Carey himself, also sponsored by Aste, who cast the February sanctions and Montes' removal as an abuse of power.
“Under the leadership of Mike Carey, the Salt Lake County GOP is imploding,” Aste said. “Under Carey, debate has been stifled and dissent has been stamped out. Other members of the party are afraid they’ll be next.”
Carey pushed back hard, saying he's faced nearly a year of "constant attack" on social media from a vocal minority within the party. He said the attacks have spilled into real life. "Because of the excessive online commentary by some people in this room, members of this body, I've received multiple death threats. I've had my vehicle tampered with," he said. "You want to talk about fear? You know who's scared right now? My family and other people on the executive committee."
Removing Carey required two thresholds: a simple majority to pass the resolution, then a two-thirds majority to actually remove him. It never got that far. The resolution failed, 135-137, making the second vote moot.
What didn’t happen
The meeting adjourned after the vote, and several agenda items went unaddressed, including the presentation of the party's plan for winning the November midterms. Unless party leadership calls a special session, the central committee isn't scheduled to meet again until November, after the election is over.