Spencer Cox

Rule Changes

Defended the state elections chief against federal pressure

Utah held its Nov. 3 election with federal monitors watching all 40 Salt Lake County vote centers, there to check Spanish-language access and disability compliance. The Justice Department sent 11 monitors; one was barred from acting as a poll watcher because they were not eligible to vote in Utah.

Updated 2 days ago

Money Moves

Republican governor whose administration has funded lake restoration and brokered preservation land deals

Salt Lake City wants to hand nearly 1,000 acres of airport wetland to the state, at no charge, under a conservation easement that would bar development. The parcel sits northwest of Salt Lake City International Airport, near the Great Salt Lake.

Updated Oct 23

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: In office; signed HB 29

Utah's state education board added seven books to its statewide school ban list on Monday, Sept. 28, bringing the total to 44 titles barred from every public school in the state. The list has grown from 13 books since July 2024, when a new state law took effect.

Updated Sep 30

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Pushed for the 2026 law clarifying prop betting as gambling

Utah has pushed its fight with Kalshi from civil court into criminal court. On Oct. 28 the state charged the prediction market and two of its executives with a felony over bets offered in Utah, after a federal judge refused to pause the state's ban while Kalshi appeals.

Updated Sep 29

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Appointed six of seven justices; will name the next chief justice

Utah's Supreme Court has seven members for the first time. The Senate voted 26-2 Wednesday to confirm Judge Matthew Bell and attorney Michael Menssen, finishing an expansion from five to seven justices.

Updated Sep 17

Built World

As of September 2026: In office; mansion grounds being converted

For years, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has asked residents to replace their lawns with water-wise landscaping. The grass outside his own residence stayed green. This week that changed.

Updated Sep 11

Money Moves

As of September 2026: Approved the appointment

Utah's state government runs its own insurance operation, funding liability claims for agencies, schools, universities, and charter schools through captive companies instead of buying commercial policies. On Sept. 6, veteran attorney Dennis Flynn took over the division that manages that risk.

Updated Sep 6

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Supports the monument shrink

Patagonia, five tribal nations, and environmental groups sued September 2 to block Trump's second shrink of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments. The case is before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. She is weighing whether to reopen a 2017 lawsuit that stalled after Biden restored the monuments.

Updated Sep 6

Built World

As of September 2026: Pushed a 150,000-unit housing target

A national homebuilder just started work on 63 four-bedroom townhomes in Sandy, Utah, priced around $550,000. That is roughly $150,000 below the area's median home price, in a county where 88% of residential land is zoned for detached single-family houses.

Updated Sep 3

Built World

As of September 2026: Issued a state of emergency over 2026 fruit crop losses

The apple harvest at Wasatch Mountain State Park's Huber Grove is off this year. The orchard's roughly 80 trees, some dating to the late 1800s, produced only a few hundred apples instead of thousands, so the park canceled its annual picking event.

Updated Sep 3