1 / 6

Tyler Clancy walks through a room of delegates at the Provo City Library after winning the special election for District 60 in the Utah House of Representatives on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

2 / 6

Delegates cast their ballots during the special election for District 60 in the Utah House of Representatives on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. The special election was held at the Provo City Library.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

3 / 6

From left, Ben Summerhalder, Stewart Peay and Lisa Shepherd sort ballots during the special election for District 60 in the Utah House of Representatives on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. The special election was held at the Provo City Library.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

4 / 6

Tyler Clancy addresses delegates before the special election for District 60 in the Utah House of Representatives on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. The special election was held at the Provo City Library.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

5 / 6

Mac Sims, vice chair of the Utah County Republican Party, holds up a blank ballot while giving instructions to delegates during the special election for District 60 in the Utah House of Representatives on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. The special election was held at the Provo City Library.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

6 / 6

Delegates sit ahead of the special election for District 60 in the Utah House of Representatives on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. The special election was held at the Provo City Library.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

The three-week process to fill Rep. Adam Robertson’s set in the Utah House of Representatives came to a close Saturday when 36 voting delegates chose between five candidates for the seat. In the end, delegates chose Tyler Clancy, a 25-year-old member of the Provo Police Department, to represent the district until 2025.

“The voters today hired me to go work on the big, complex issues, the things that are tough that (don’t have) easy answers. I’m excited for that. I feel like we’re up to the challenge and I’m gonna try and bring that brain trust of people that I’ve met on the campaign and bring their perspectives up there as well,” Clancy told the Daily Herald after the election.

The day started with an hourlong meet-the-candidates for delegates and interested attendees, including Rep. Norm Thurston from the neighboring District 62 and Sheriff Mike Smith, to talk with the five contenders.

Using ranked-choice voting, the 36 delegates, of 47 in the district, chose their preferred candidates among the field of Clancy, McKay Jensen, Sylvia Andrew, Jared Oldroyd and Joe Brockbank.

“I thought we had a great selection of candidates. I think they came from a diverse background, which was great to give our delegates a lot of different options,” said Mac Sims, vice chair of the Utah County Republican Party.

As the special election began, each candidate was given approximately two minutes to make their case to the crowd. From there, it was time to vote. After the delegates bubbled in their preferred order of candidates, they went to the front of the room, dropping folded ballots in a zip-close bag held by Sims. After several minutes, and once all 36 ballots were cast, a group of party members who live in other districts sorted the ballots at the front of the room.

Volunteers Ben Summerhalder, Stewart Peay and Lisa Shepherd pulled each ballot out of the bag and placed them in piles, organized by top candidates.

In the first round of voting, Clancy received 17 votes, followed by eight for Jensen, six for Andrew, five for Oldroyd and none for Brockbank. With Brockbank and Oldroyd eliminated, the ballots on which they were the first choice were re-tabulated based on those voters’ second pick. After the second round, Clancy had a majority of votes cast with 19 compared to Jensen’s nine and Andrew’s eight.

Once the results were announced and Clancy was named the next representative for the district, he dropped his head and smiled amid a round of applause.

After a quick kiss with his wife, Leah, Clancy moved through the center of the room and spoke, one on one, with every attendee.

For Leah Clancy, the whirlwind of weeks were part of a busy year for the two as Tyler Clancy joined the Provo PD in May 2022 and they were married in September. But to her, it’s also not been a surprise to see him run for office and win the race.

“I’ve been having a lot of people come up to me and tell me that my husband’s basically going to be gone for the next few months and to prepare for that, but I’m excited for everything that is to come. Tyler has been wanting something like this for as long as I can remember, ever since I met him,” Leah Clancy said. “He’s loved politics, he’s loved public speaking and he’s always been very devoted to what his beliefs are and has stayed true to who he is and what he believes.”

According to Sims, it is common to not have every delegate in attendance, due to scheduling and people potentially moving out of their districts. The list of the delegates is also locked by the county party once a special election is necessary so candidates can’t potentially game the system by getting supporters to fill empty delegate spots.

The short time frame between Robertson’s resignation and the special election was, partially, due to the 2023 legislative general session, which officially starts on Tuesday.

“We looked at the calendar and did whatever we could to try and fit this in in a reasonable time where we aren’t rushing the process, but making sure we had a new elected representative that could get in and do the job from day one of the legislative session,” Sims said.

Now that he is set to join the Utah House as the body’s youngest member, Tyler Clancy will be forced to make difficult decisions and take past, present and future into account.

“I just want to take that human element to policy so that when we’re making these laws we are cognizant of the impacts 50, 70 years down the road. So when it comes to things like water, private property rights, First Amendment, Second Amendment rights, we’re going to make sure those are safe and good to go for generations to come,” he said. “I don’t think I necessarily bring some great, amazing perspective — just to connect the human impact that policy decisions have.”

In an effort to take things one day at a time, Tyler Clancy hasn’t focused on specific goals in the Utah House and how he’ll vote on every potential bill. More than anything, he told the Daily Herald he will listen to the people of District 60 in order to best represent their interests.

“Throughout these past two or three weeks, he is absolute workhorse. He was knocking on doors all day, he came home late, he was on calls all the time; he did the whole campaign himself,” Leah Clancy said. “If there’s anything Tyler has, it is the work ethic. … I think that’s really what sets him apart.”

Newsletter