2016 Utah gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2016 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2016 Utah gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2016,^[1] to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Utah, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

2016 Utah gubernatorial election

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →

Nominee Gary Herbert Mike Weinholtz Party Republican Democratic Running mate Spencer Cox Kim Bowman Popular vote 750,850 323,349 Percentage 66.74% 28.74%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Herbert:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Weinholtz:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      40–50%      50%      No data

Governor before election Gary Herbert Republican Elected Governor Gary Herbert Republican

Incumbent Republican governor Gary Herbert ran for re-election to a second full term in office.^[2] Republican challenger Jonathan E. Johnson defeated Herbert in the state convention to secure a spot on the primary ballot,^[3] but Herbert won the June 28, 2016 primary and secured the nomination.^[4] The Democratic party nominated former CHG Healthcare Services CEO Mike Weinholtz at the Utah Democratic convention in April.^[5]

Herbert won the general election, defeating Weinholtz by a large margin.^[6][7]

Background

Republican Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. resigned in August 2009 to become United States Ambassador to China and Lieutenant Governor Herbert succeeded him. He was elected to serve out the remainder of Huntsman's term in a 2010 special election and was re-elected to a full four-year term in 2012.

Republican nomination

Former Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives Rebecca D. Lockhart was widely believed to be a potential Republican candidate, but she died of a rare neurodegenerative brain disease in January 2015.^[2][8]

Incumbent governor Gary Herbert won the June 28, 2016 primary, defeating Overstock.com Chairman Jonathan Johnson.^[4]

Candidates

Declared

• Gary Herbert, incumbent governor^[2]
• Jonathan "JJ" Johnson, businessman and chairman of the board of Overstock.com^[2][9]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Gary Herbert	Jonathan Johnson	Undecided
SurveyUSA[10]	June 6–8, 2016	517	± 4.1%	69%	24%	6%

Results

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gary Herbert (incumbent)	176,866	71.75%
	Republican	Jonathan Johnson	69,663	28.25%
Total votes			246,529	100.00%

Democratic nomination

Weinholtz defeated Cook at the Democratic convention to become the nominee.

Candidates

Declared

• Mike Weinholtz, former chairman and CEO of CHG Healthcare Services^[11][5]

Withdrew

• Vaughn R Cook, founder and CEO of ZYTO Technologies^[12]

Declined

• Ed Allen, former state senator^[13]
• Jim Dabakis, State Senator and former chairman of the Utah Democratic Party^[14]
• Jim Matheson, former U.S. representative^[15]
• Ben McAdams, Mayor of Salt Lake County and former state senator^[16]

General election

Debate

2016 Utah gubernatorial election debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Gary Herbert	Doug Owens
1	Sep. 26, 2016	Utah Debate Commission	Kerry Bringhurst	[17]	P	P

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[18]	Safe R	August 12, 2016
Daily Kos[19]	Safe R	November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report[20]	Safe R	November 3, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball[21]	Safe R	November 7, 2016
Real Clear Politics[22]	Safe R	November 1, 2016
Governing[23]	Safe R	October 27, 2016

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Gary Herbert (R)	Mike Weinholtz (D)	Other	Undecided
SurveyMonkey[24]	November 1–7, 2016	1,479	± 4.6%	58%	38%	—	4%
SurveyMonkey[25]	Oct 31–Nov 6, 2016	1,428	± 4.6%	59%	38%	—	3%
Y2 Analytics[26]→	November 1–3, 2016	500	± 4.4%	64%	26%	5%	5%
SurveyMonkey[27]	Oct 28–Nov 3, 2016	1,327	± 4.6%	60%	37%	—	3%
Monmouth University[28]	Oct 30–Nov 2, 2016	402	± 4.9%	63%	30%	5%	2%
SurveyMonkey[29]	Oct 27–Nov 2, 2016	1,247	± 4.6%	60%	36%	—	4%
SurveyMonkey[30]	Oct 26–Nov 1, 2016	1,057	± 4.6%	61%	34%	—	5%
SurveyMonkey[31]	October 25–31, 2016	1,078	± 4.6%	61%	35%	—	4%
UtahPolicy/Dan Jones[32]	October 12–18, 2016	818	± 3.4%	64%	25%	6%	5%
Monmouth University[33]	October 10–12, 2016	403	± 4.9%	63%	30%	2%	5%
UtahPolicy/Dan Jones[34]	September 1–9, 2016	605	± 4.0%	62%	24%	6%	7%
Public Policy Polling[35]	August 19–21, 2016	1,018	± 3.1%	57%	21%	7%	14%
SurveyUSA[10]	June 6–8, 2016	1,238	± 2.8%	55%	34%	4%	6%
Gravis Marketing[36]	May 31–June 1, 2016	1,519	± 2.5%	56%	29%	15%	—

• → Internal poll conducted on behalf of the Utah Republican Party.

Hypothetical polling

with Jonathan Johnson

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Jonathan Johnson (R)	Mike Weinholtz (D)	Other	Undecided
SurveyUSA[10]	June 6–8, 2016	1,238	± 2.8%	38%	35%	9%	17%
Gravis Marketing[36]	May 31–June 1, 2016	1,519	± 2.5%	40%	29%	31%	—

with Jim Matheson

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Gary Herbert (R)	Jim Matheson (D)	Other	Undecided
UtahPolicy/Dan Jones[37]	March 30–April 7, 2015	601	± 4.0%	57%	33%	—	11%

Results

2016 Utah gubernatorial election^[38]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Gary Herbert (incumbent)	750,850	66.74%	−1.67%
	Democratic	Mike Weinholtz	323,349	28.74%	+1.16%
	Libertarian	Brian Kamerath	34,827	3.10%	+0.85%
	Independent American	Superdell Schanze	15,912	1.41%	N/A
	Independent	L.S. Brown (write-in)	97	0.01%	N/A
Total votes			1,125,035	100.0%	N/A
	Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Summit (largest municipality: Park City)

By congressional district

Herbert won all four congressional districts.^[39]

District	Herbert	Weinholtz	Representative
1st	71%	24%	Rob Bishop
2nd	62%	33%	Chris Stewart
3rd	72%	24%	Jason Chaffetz
4th	61%	34%	Mia Love