Utah’s lieutenant governor, Spencer Cox, has not yet — formally — decided to run for governor, but he’s the first choice among Republican voters to take the state’s top job in 2021, according to a new poll.
Cox was the preferred candidate for 28 percent of respondents, followed closely by former Congressman Jason Chaffetz at 27 percent, according to a Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll of 311 registered Republican voters. The poll did not include any potential Democratic candidates because no prominent names have as yet surfaced in the contest.
“As Lieutenant Governor, I understand the weight of a decision to seek the office of governor," Cox said in a prepared statement.