⏰ Tick Tock
Days until Election Day (11/4/2025) - 13
Days to the start of the 2026 Utah Legislature (1/20/2026) - 90
Days until the 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026) - 377
Days until the 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028) - 1,112
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📰 The lead
Sen. Daniel Thatcher announced Tuesday he's retiring from the Utah state Senate seat he has held since 2011. Since he switched to the Utah Forward Party on the final day of the 2025 legislative session, his new party should pick his replacement.
Utah Republicans might have other ideas.
Utah law says in the event of a midterm vacancy in the state Senate, their replacement will be selected by "the same political party as the prior senator."
Sounds simple enough—except Quinn Yeargain, who teaches the law of democracy at Michigan State, spots a problem. Thatcher is a Forward Party member now, but he spent 14 years as a Republican. Which party counts as "the prior senator's"?
Yeargain says there's enough vagueness in the way Utah's law is written that Republicans might try to claim they should get to pick Thatcher's replacement.
"It seems likely that the Forward Party will be able to fill Thatcher's seat, but Utah law is a little vague on this point," Yeargain posted to Bluesky.
The ambiguity creates an opening. Republicans could argue that since Thatcher won election as a GOP member and caucused with them for his entire tenure, they retain the right to fill his seat.
If Republicans decide to press this interpretation and win, it sets a precedent: defecting legislators can’t change partisan control through Utah’s midterm replacement process.
Thatcher was already a lame duck heading into the 2026 legislative session, having announced he was not seeking a fifth term. The competition among Republicans to fill the open seat in SD11 was expected to be fierce.
Now there will be a quasi-incumbent in that seat next year. While the district leans Republican, registered GOP voters account for less than half of all voters in the district.
That could be a huge advantage for the Utah Forward Party, which only has 2,400 registered voters statewide, and just 106 in Thatcher's district.
If the Forward Party seats Thatcher’s replacement, it gives them a foothold in a district where registered Republicans don’t hold a majority.
Currently, 10 of the Utah Senate's 29 members were appointed to their seat through the midterm replacement process–most notably Senate President Stuart Adams, who was first appointed to fill a vacancy in the Utah House in 2002, then appointed as a replacement in the Utah Senate in 2009.
Wednesday morning's headlines
Utah and the West
Utah homeless coordinator to retire before key legislative session for homelessness funding. [Utah News Dispatch]
Salt Lake County mayor proposes nearly 20% property tax increase. [KSL]
Davis County leaders propose tax hike of up to 30% to generate up to $12.68M in new revenue. [KSL]
What will it take to save the Great Salt Lake by the 2034 Winter Olympics? It depends on who you ask. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Interior Department's reduction-in-force would shrink BLM Utah workforce by about 12%. [Fox 13]
Examining HB265: "Is higher education in utah better off than it was a year ago?" [Deseret News]
UVU student group protests possible Charlie Kirk memorial on campus. [Fox 13]
Lt. Gov Henderson says some state GOP tactics are "taking us down the wrong path." [Utah News Dispatch]
Nursing homes receiving millions in extra taxpayer funds face allegations of poor patient care. [Fox 13]
Newly rejected by appeals court, LDS tithing lawsuit may be headed to U.S. Supreme Court. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Nation
Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages. [Washington Post]
Millions may lose food stamp benefits if shutdown continues, states warn. [Washington Post]
President Donald Trump is reportedly demanding that the Justice Department pay him $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him. [New York Times]
Republicans are ridiculing "No Kings." A striking new poll shows Americans aren't laughing. [CNN]
World
President Trump says another summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a "waste of time," and that he plans to reveal his new thinking on the Ukraine war within two days. [Wall Street Journal]
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the U.S. has signed a $20B bailout deal with Argentina. [Politico]
Economy
Amazon plans to replace more than half a million jobs with robots. [New York Times]
Gold tumbles 5% in biggest sell-off since 2020. [Financial Times]
Health
The U.S. is seeing an unprecedented surge in measles, with more than 1,500 cases reported so far in 2025. [The Mirror]
Entertainment
Trump cools on possible pardon of Sean "Diddy" Combs over risk of MAGA blowback. [Deadline]