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.
