A Republican nominee for the Utah State Board of Education just dropped out and accused his own party of trying to sandbag his campaign. Party leaders say he’s confusing "sabotage" with a social media timeout.
Michael Clara announced on Facebook last week that he was leaving the District 5 race, a month after winning the GOP nomination. He said Salt Lake County GOP Chair Mike Carey had restricted his access to party information and told him he faced a pending party ethics complaint.
“We were at the point of announcing a couple of fundraising events,” Clara wrote. “I could not in good conscience move forward knowing that my own political party was laying a snare to sabotage my campaign.”
He added that after he called out Carey, he was told “the restriction [would] remain in place,” and that he was told there is a “pending GOP ethics complaint.
Clara posted a screenshot of an email from Carey as evidence.
“When you spend more time trolling the party FB page or many volunteers with half-truths and slanderous claims,” Carey wrote, “you shouldn’t be surprised by removal or a referral to the Ethics Committee.”
Carey told Utah Political Watch that Clara was not blocked from party resources. He said Clara had a login issue with the county system that was resolved.
The email Clara posted, Carey said, was about Facebook access, not party resources. Clara had tried to post on the county party’s page but was blocked because he had repeatedly attacked party leadership on social media, Carey said.
“Considering we don’t use the party page for any business other than announcing events already on our calendar, he was basically put in timeout,” Carey said.
Carey declined to say whether an ethics complaint is pending against Clara.
Clara previously served one term on the Salt Lake City Board of Education.
In 2019, he was charged with seven felonies after he fired a gun at a stolen vehicle that struck his car and drove off. One of the bullets struck another vehicle, narrowly missing a young girl inside.
A judge dismissed those charges in 2022 after lawmakers changed Utah’s self-defense law in 2021.
Clara became a close ally of former Rep. Phil Lyman after Lyman lost to Gov. Spencer Cox in the 2024 Republican primary. He has repeatedly amplified Lyman’s claims that Cox did not legitimately qualify for the ballot through signature gathering.
Clara had been set to challenge incumbent Democrat Sarah Reale. Under state law, the Salt Lake County GOP’s central committee can choose a replacement. Carey said the party has started that process.
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