We are looking forward to the 2025 State Organizing Convention at UVU on May 17th! We hope you've marked your calendar and are planning to join us, but if you know that you are unable to attend the convention, now is the time to email your precinct chair or county party leadership to let them know that you'll need an alternate delegate to represent your precinct. Read on to see who filed for party leadership and to learn more about this year's  request from our convention committee.

Filed Candidates

We have a great group of candidates filed for the following party officer positions:

Those candidates without an opponent will receive a vote by acclamation at convention, but we will not hold an election by ballot for those races. You can review candidate bios on the 2025 UTGOP Convention Website.

Security & Safety in the Current Political Environment

Since President Trump was inaugurated in January, you may have noticed an increase in agitation and provocation against Trump supporters and members of the Republican party. Tesla cars have been defaced in parking lots; Tesla dealerships have been hit by Molotov cocktails. The GOP Headquarters in New Mexico was set on fire at the end of March. My own family was mailed a “bomb” through USPS (thankfully it turned out to be a glitter bomb and not a true incendiary device, but still not cool for my seven year old twins to bring into our home from the mailbox). One Utah Congressman had to be escorted out of a town hall by police officers because of the extent to which anti-Trump agitators were yelling and threatening him personally. Various internet forums like Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit have provided a means and (a record of) plans to thwart and threaten our own state Republican leaders, or in some cases merely attempt “to scare” Republicans.

We are not scared, but we will plan our organizing convention with a higher level of security and scrutiny this year than we have in the past given the current political environment. At this important time for our republic, it’s even more important that Republicans stand up to the bullies and meet to conduct the business of a republican government.

Registration: A Pilot Program This Year

As I researched ways that other large, public events provide safe, secure, and efficient experiences, it became clear that they all require either tickets or registration to provide an accounting of individuals expected to attend. Predicting attendance is critical to adequately provide seating, bathrooms, food, security, parking, and more. The more we advanced our planning and discussions as a convention committee, the more I felt that including a Registration this year might provide the missing link to solve some problems we’ve had in years past. Our Credentialing Chair was quick to point out that a “Registration” would not replace or affect the credentialing of state delegates and we agreed on that from the beginning. I’m sorry that point was miscommunicated in our first round of information about this Registration pilot program.

While it is well-established that the number of delegates is easy to account for because we know how many delegates *should* attend our conventions (~4000 state delegates), we actually don’t have an official count until the statutory eight days before the event itself when delegate lists are finalized. We also don’t know how many non-delegates are planning to attend and that’s really where some planning gets complicated. In 2022, the State Nominating Convention was held at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, and we ended up with groups of people seated on the floor and collected in extra chairs (some brought in camp chairs from their cars) along the sides of the convention hall because we had more non-delegate guests than we knew were coming. Some candidates brought dozens of people with them to help in their booths and to fill up the stage during their speeches. Some delegates brought their entire families. Some brought scout troops! We want all of these different kinds of guests to attend our conventions, assuming we have sufficient seating available, but we need to know who everyone is that plans to attend so we can adequately accommodate them. We would hate for non-delegate guests to drive all the way to the organizing convention from out of town and not have anywhere to sit.

Proactive registration also helps close a recurring communication gap—many delegates report not receiving our emails about the state convention, which likely means they’re also missing candidate emails, since candidates use our delegate lists. This gap can result from incorrect email addresses written on Caucus Night, data entry errors at the County or State level, or emails being filtered as spam. With so many unknowns, registration gives delegates a way to proactively update their contact information in our database to ensure they receive communications. We will also share these updates with County Parties to make their job of validating the list of state delegates who will attend convention easier. By improving outreach at both levels, we increase delegate participation and achieve more representative convention outcomes.

Convention Details – Reminder to Save the Date & Register

Please mark your calendar and make plans to attend the 2025 Utah Republican Party State Organizing Convention:

Date: Saturday, May 17, 2025
Location: Utah Valley University – UCCU Center
Credentialing Opens: 7:30 a.m.
Convention Call to Order: 10:30 a.m.

You will vote to elect the leadership of the Utah Republican Party — the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. Delegates may also be asked to vote on proposed party business (resolutions, bylaw changes, and amendments to the Party’s constitution).

All attendees—including delegates, candidates, elected officials, media, volunteers, and other non-delegate guests—are requested to register in advance. Space is limited and registration is required for non-delegates to enter the convention arena. Space will be prioritized for delegates.

Register Here

FAQs about Registration:

Q: Will you turn away state delegates who didn’t register?

A: No. As stated in Utah Republican Party Bylaw 8.5.E.4. “Each delegate to this convention will be issued a credential card that is nontransferable and must be displayed at the time of balloting and any voting.” Our well-established credentialing system governs the admission of delegates and is the governing bylaw of the convention. The final and official credential list will serve as the Registration record for any delegates who failed to register on their own.

Q: Why do I have to register if I’m already a delegate?

A: For delegates, registration is *requested* and will help us to make better plans and also work more effectively with County Parties leading up to the May 9th deadline. Registering will help ensure that we avoid any surprises or misunderstanding about who is/isn’t a state delegate on convention day; it also helps us give accurate contact information to candidates before the May 9th delegate list deadline. No duly elected delegate will be denied admission to the convention for failing to register; the official credentialing list will guide admission to the convention for all delegates.

Q: Why is the state GOP asking to know which "particular delegates and non-delegates are attending" this year?

A: We always require a list of “particular delegates” that should be credentialed at the convention. The official Credentialing List - required by our bylaws eight days before the state convention - is based on responses from County Parties about which state delegates will represent their precincts. This year, we’re also piloting registration for non-delegates to get an accurate count of guests attending the convention; our bylaws state in 8.5.E.3, "seating shall be organized by county with a separate area for visitors and media." We hope to accommodate non-delegate guests, but we will need to allocate seating to delegates first and non-delegates second. Also, we’ve seen enough threats and provocations from agitators and protestors within the state of Utah over the last few months that we feel the need to know who the non-delegates are and why they want to attend the convention. We will increase security and scrutiny at this convention to make sure all guests are safe.

Q: Is this RSVP/Registration request a “stunt to gatekeep and collect data on who’s attending to control the outcome of the election for state GOP leadership?”

A: Hard no. Our goal is to help every duly-elected state delegate attend our organizing convention and have a good experience. We are committed to election integrity and that begins with our Convention Team’s promise to abide by all party bylaws and convention rules. I put my personal integrity on the line to ensure fairness to all candidates and delegates in all of our convention plans and activities. 

Q: Is there “limited space” at the UCCU Center?

A: Yes. There is a finite amount of seating when the arena has all seats and seating sections pulled out and available. The venue has a legal limit to meet fire code as well. Furthermore, we have to close several sections of seating in order to create a main stage for all of our party business. Several more sections of seating will be closed to provide a large space for our Booth Expo. Several more sections of seating will be closed to provide ample and separate credentialing space for our delegates. Our bylaws require that we provide separate seating for non-delegate guests and the media, and without an exact number to know how many of those individuals plan to attend, this is a difficult plan to make. Take a look at the venue map here.

We look forward to welcoming you at the 2025 State Organizing Convention next month. We invite you to Register to help us gauge the effectiveness of our Registration pilot program this year; if it improves the convention experience we'll probably continue using a Registration on the front end of our planning in future years. If it doesn't yield significant improvements we'll accept the lessons learned and keep moving forward in service of our Grand Old Party here in Utah, we're always trying to improve the way we do things to strengthen the caucus-convention system. Thank you for your dedication and service to your neighborhood citizens and precincts! 

Sincerely,

Nicki Brammer

2025 Convention Chair,

Utah Republican Party