Sanpete County residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of one of their own in the recent Republican primary election, helping Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer J. Cox secure the party’s nomination to run for governor.

Cox, a native of Fairview and current resident of the city, was declared the winner of the primary election on Monday and will now run for governor against Democratic nominee and University of Utah law professor Chris Peterson.

Voters will cast ballots for the two candidates during the general election Nov. 3.

Deidre M. Henderson, a Utah state senator representing District 7, is Cox’s running mate for the position of lieutenant governor.

Cox held an election night event on June 30 at the Basin Drive In in Mt. Pleasant where he greeted supporters.

“I want to thank you. I want to thank the hundreds, the thousands of volunteers who gathered signatures for us, put up signs, made phone calls, posted on social media. We have never seen a grassroots campaign like this in the history of the State of Utah,” Cox told those at the Mt. Pleasant event. “This is your election. You deserve this. You’ve made us so proud. We just feel so humbled and grateful to represent you. We love you, we love what you stand for, we love the goodness that has shown through from the very beginning.”

As of The Pyramid’s press time on Tuesday, Cox and Henderson were reported to have garnered 185,104 votes – 36.4 percent of the total votes statewide.

Jon Huntsman Jr., also a candidate in the Republican primary election for governor, and his running mate Michelle Kaufusi were their closest competitors, with Huntsman/Kaufusi trailing just 9,134 votes behind Cox/Henderson.

The Huntsman ticket had received 175,970 votes as of press time, which represented 34.6 percent of the total votes statewide. The other two candidates for governor in the Republican primary, Greg Hughes and Thomas E. Wright, had received 107,182 votes (21.08 percent) and 40,313 (7.93 percent) respectively.

In Sanpete County, out of a total 6,882 votes cast in the Republican primary gubernatorial race, residents gave 4,617 of those votes to the Cox ticket, 67 percent of the overall count. Huntsman received 740 votes in the county while Hughes received 1,226 and Wright received 299.

“If we get the opportunity to serve as your next governor and lieutenant governor, we promise you that it will not change us. It will not change who we are,” Cox said during the Basin Drive In event. “We will stay true to those values that have gotten us here. We will stay true to the values of the people of the State of Utah, and we will stay true to the values of Sanpete County.”

Cox grew up as part of a farming family in rural Fairview, graduating from North Sanpete High School. He attended Snow College and Utah State University and earned his Juris Doctor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law in Virginia. Along the way, he married his high school sweetheart, Abby.

Following law school, the couple lived in Salt Lake City for a time before deciding they missed the lifestyle found in Sanpete County. They moved their family to Fairview where they could raise their children on the farm.

After moving to Fairview, Cox joined the family telecom business, CentraCom, serving as vice president and general counsel. His career in public service began when he was appointed to the Fairview City Council. He was later elected mayor and went on to serve as a county commissioner and state representative.

Cox was selected by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to succeed Greg Bell as lieutenant governor, and Cox was sworn in on Oct. 16, 2013. Herbert and Cox were re-elected to another term in 2016.

Cox agreed to serve as lieutenant governor with the condition that he continue to live in and commute from Fairview. He still resides there with his wife and four children.

Other election results

In the Republican primary election contest for the State House 58 seat, Steven J. Lund had gathered 5,202 votes over Clinton L. Painter’s 3,839 votes as of press time.

District 58 includes most of Sanpete County and a portion of Juab County. In Sanpete County, 4,574 residents voted for Lund while 1,872 voted for Painter.

In the Republican primary election for U.S. House District 4, Burgess Owens was leading with 45,867 votes statewide (43.6 percent). Kim Coleman was in second place with 25,470 votes while Jay “JayMac” McFarland had received 22,644 votes and Trent Christensen had received 11,341 votes.

In Sanpete County, out of a total of 3,200 votes cast in the U.S. House District 4 race, Burgess received 1,826 votes, Coleman received 599 votes, McFarland received 345 votes and Christensen received 430 votes.

In the Republican primary election for Utah state attorney general, Sean D. Reyes was leading with 266,290 votes statewide over David O. Leavitt’s 225,131 votes.

In Sanpete County, Reyes was also the leader. Out of 6,681 votes cast by county voters in the race, 3,851 went to Reyes and 2,830 went to Leavitt.