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In this week's episode, host Bryan Schott discusses:
Bears Ears & Grand Staircase Escalante shrunk again President Trump signed an executive order this week drastically reducing both monuments—continuing the back-and-forth that's played out since Clinton (1996) and Obama (2016) created them, Trump shrank them in 2017, and Biden restored/expanded them in 2021.
Trump's Thursday night address Multiple reports suggest the president will claim new evidence of foreign interference in the 2020 election and may declare Georgia Senators Warnock and Ossoff illegitimately elected as part of his ongoing efforts to sow doubts about the legitimacy of elections ahead of the midterms.
Legislature backs off ballot initiative power grab After previously signaling they'd push a constitutional amendment letting lawmakers repeal citizen ballot initiatives, legislative leaders reversed course after Senate President Stuart Adams lost his primary—a sign they're wary of further angering voters.
Save Act & Lindsey Graham's death Senator Mike Lee is renewing his push for the Save Act (which would require birth-certificate-or-passport proof of citizenship to vote and curtail mail-in voting) following Graham's unexpected death—though Lee still lacks the votes to pass the bill.
Trevor Lee investigation Representative Trevor Lee remains under Attorney General investigation over allegations he tried to leverage his legislative seat to help an employer land a federal cleanup grant tied to Hill Air Force Base, to pay off a $93,000 debt.
Henderson vs. DOJ Lt. Governor Diedre Henderson continues to publicly push back on the Department of Justice's demands for Utah's unredacted voter rolls, pointing out DOJ's 14 straight court losses on similar demands nationwide.
Jan. 6 subpoenas New Politico reporting reveals special counsel Jack Smith's investigation obtained text messages from 44 members of Congress, including Senator Mike Lee.
Also discussed: the Utah Debate Commission's 2026 debate schedule, Phil Lyman allies' signature-gathering conspiracy claims, CNBC ranking Utah among the 10 worst states to live in, and fallout from the Utah Fits All voucher program audit.
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A scathing state audit found the Utah Fits All Scholarship voucher program spent taxpayer money on Pelotons, gaming PCs, mirrorless cameras, trampolines and a $6,200 mountain bike, while auditors could only confidently trace about 19% of transactions.
Rep. John Arthur (D-Salt Lake City), a public school teacher, joins the show to break down the findings, explain why he believes the program itself is unconstitutional, and make the case for why the money should go back into public schools.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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In this episode of Special Session, Bryan Schott breaks down Senator Mike Lee's habit of posting bad-faith attacks every time the white nationalist group Patriot Front marches — and explains why the senator's rhetoric is designed for followers he holds in open contempt.
Plus: Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson pushes back against DOJ threats of criminal prosecution over Utah's refusal to hand over unredacted voter rolls, the primary election canvass is finalized, and Bryan takes on a local news theory linking Ben McAdams' primary win to the future of Utah's redistricting fight.
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Host Bryan Schott breaks down some huge news in Utah politics: his own First Amendment lawsuit against the Utah Legislature just got revived by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Plus, Kevin O'Leary walks back his CCP-funding claims against Alliance for a Better Utah; the fight to replace outgoing Senate President Stuart Adams heats up between Kirk Cullimore and Evan Vickers; Governor Spencer Cox's statewide fireworks ban amid historic drought and wildfires; a possible Alito retirement and the Mike Lee SCOTUS speculation.
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Stuart Adams just became the first sitting Utah Senate President to lose a primary since 2002, and the shockwaves are still reverberating across Capitol Hill. The man who ran the Utah Senate like a personal kingdom got sent home by the very voters he forgot to listen to, and Ben McAdams, the newly minted Democratic nominee in Utah's 1st Congressional District, has some thoughts about that.
McAdams joined the show fresh off a convincing primary win with more than 50% of the vote, clearing the majority threshold in a multi-candidate field , and he didn't hold back.
He called out the Utah GOP for getting "fat and lazy," using gerrymandering to insulate themselves from accountability, and then acting shocked when voters finally had enough. He draws a sharp distinction between the Stratos data center disaster and his own work with a clean-energy data center project in southern Utah that spent six years going through the public process the right way.
McAdams also talks about why he went through the convention process even though he didn't have to, what it means to actually listen to voters instead of just performing for them, and why winning CD1 in November is going to require building a coalition that goes well beyond the Democratic base in a district that's only 25% registered Democrat.
Plus, host Bryan Schott breaks down why Stuart Adams lost and how that might have other Republicans up for election in November freaked out, and what's next for Phil Lyman after the beatdown he suffered at the hands of Celeste Maloy in the primary.
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With Utah's June 23 primary just days away, Bryan Schott breaks down the biggest storylines:
ICE detention warehouse update: New NYT reporting says DHS is looking to offload the SLC warehouse it overpaid for.Trump endorses Moore, Malloy, Kennedy: Predictable picks spark a meltdown among Phil Lyman supporters who'd convinced themselves Trump would back Lyman.CD3: Malloy vs. Lyman: Why this race is closer than it looks: 60% of the district has never seen Malloy on a ballot, Lyman's base is more energized, but his campaign is missing basic blocking-and-tackling — including a still-unfiled federal financial disclosure.Stuart Adams' money machine: A breakdown of how his own leadership PAC funneled $110K into his own primary, plus campaign-cash spending on a steakhouse dinner in NYC.Legislative primary cash flood: $1.5M+ raised across 22 contested races.Open primary mechanics: How non-Democrats can still request a ballot in the CD1 Democratic primary, and why Republicans could "mess with" that race if they organized.Trump vs. vote-by-mail: Trump's Truth Social attack on Utah's mail ballots, and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson's pointed rebuttal.The press-pass lawsuit: New GRAMA numbers: the Legislature has spent $428,000 so far on outside lawyers fighting Bryan's First Amendment case...and counting.Mark your calendar: Live election night coverage Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 PM with David Nir of The Downballot.📰 Subscribe at UtahPolitics.newsSponsor the show: Got deep pockets and a masochistic love of Utah politics? Sponsor this podcast and support our coverage of this slow motion train wreck. Hit us up [email protected] us on social media:BlueskyTikTokInstagramFacebookThreadsX/Twitter📰 Subscribe at UtahPolitics.newsSponsor the show: Got deep pockets and a masochistic love of Utah politics? Sponsor this podcast and support our coverage of this slow motion train wreck. Hit us up [email protected] us on social media: Bluesky TikTok Instagram Facebook ThreadsX/Twitter -
With just two weeks to go until Utah's June 23 primary elections, Bryan Schott breaks down the $2.8 million in outside spending flooding Utah's congressional races, flags which incumbents are actually in danger, and explains the alarming background of Utah County's newly appointed deputy elections director.
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Utah 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Ben McAdams joins Utah Political Watch for a wide-ranging interview ahead of the June 23 primary election.
McAdams, a former state senator, Salt Lake County Mayor, and one-term congressman, makes his case for why his track record on delivering results sets him apart from his three primary opponents.
We discuss his take on finishing second at the state Democratic convention, the tension between his centrist brand and a more progressive primary base, his financial disclosure showing ownership stakes in AI data center companies, his opposition to the Stratos data center in Box Elder County, how he'd approach oversight of the Trump administration, and the issues he says have been ignored under Utah's previous gerrymandered congressional map, including the proposed ICE detention center on Salt Lake City's west side.
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Ballots hit Utah mailboxes this week, and Senate President Stuart Adams immediately sent a letter demanding Kevin O'Leary shrink the controversial Stratos data center project by 75%, the same project Adams approved as MIDA chairman. We break down why that's a panic move, not a policy move, and what it says about his primary election chances.
Nate Blouin dropped his internal poll in the CD1 Democratic primary. We dig into the top-line numbers and the internals, and explain why the race is still wide open despite McAdams leading at 37%.
A shadowy new super PAC running AI attack ads against Blake Moore traces back to the home address of Senator Mike Lee's top political strategist, who wouldn't deny being involved.
Plus: Which debate moderator actually did his job? (Hint: it's not a journalist).
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Michael Farrell, a Salt Lake City tax attorney and progressive Democrat running in Utah's newly redrawn 1st Congressional District, joins the show to make his case for why he's the right candidate in a crowded Democratic primary.
Farrell discusses his personal motivation for running — his mother's terminal illness and $150,000 hospital bill in 2009 — and why he's focused on detailed policy proposals rather than progressive branding.
He breaks down his approach to taxing the wealthy (closing loopholes, new rates on multimillionaires and billionaires), his support for a complete ban on data centers in water-stressed areas like Utah, and how he plans to build bipartisan coalitions while holding firm on core progressive values.
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Utah State Senator Nate Blouin sits down with Utah Political Watch to make his case for the Democratic nomination in Utah's 1st Congressional District. In a wide-ranging conversation, Blouin explains his "top vs. bottom" theory of the race, his pledge to drop out if a campaign-commissioned poll shows him trailing fellow progressives Liban Mohammed or Michael Farrell, and why he thinks he's the only candidate built to beat Ben McAdams.
We also dig into the Stratos data center fight in Box Elder County, his legislative record in a Republican supermajority, the challenges of winning a general election as a progressive in a district where Democrats make up just a quarter of registered voters, and what the redrawn congressional map means for Utah.
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Bryan breaks down Wednesday night's first and only televised debate in Utah's new First Congressional District Democratic primary. Four candidates, one stage, and one frontrunner who just needed to walk out standing. He did.
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The four Democrats running for Utah's 1st Congressional District take the stage Wednesday night for the only televised debate of the primary, and Bryan has thoughts, mostly skeptical ones, about the format.
He breaks down the dynamics and strategy: why Nate Blouin, Liban Mohamed and Michael Farrell all need to attack Ben McAdams while simultaneously fighting each other for the progressive lane. Bryan also explains why Blouin's plan to commission a poll and drop out if he's not the top progressive is, in his view, a political stunt—especially since the ballots are already printed.
Plus: why the Kevin O'Leary/Box Elder data center has become a surprisingly potent issue heading into the primary, what it means for Senate President Stuart Adams' re-election race, and why Speaker Mike Schultz is trying to distance himself as fast as possible.
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Bryan Schott sits down with Liban Mohamed, a 27-year-old running in the Democratic primary for Utah's new 1st Congressional District. Mohamed made waves at the Utah Democratic state convention, winning 51% of the vote to secure the top spot on the primary ballot—defeating former Congressman Ben McAdams.
They discuss Mohamed's working-class policy agenda, his call for a prohibition on hyperscale data centers in water-stressed areas like Utah, the Islamophobic backlash his campaign has faced, running as a Gen Z candidate, and why he believes the anger he's hearing from voters across the district signals a change election is coming.
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In this episode:
John Curtis for governor? Host Bryan Schott digs into the Politico report that U.S. Sen. John Curtis is exploring a run for governor in 2028. Curtis has name ID, money, and nothing to lose (he doesn't have to give up his Senate seat to run). Bryan sizes up the emerging field, including Jason Chaffetz, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, and Speaker Mike Schultz—and explains why Curtis's entry reshapes the whole race.
The Box Elder data center fallout. Kevin O'Leary is losing it. Bryan updates listeners on the MIDA-backed data center project in Box Elder County, the viral misinformation spreading about Gov. Spencer Cox, and why the people pushing this project don't seem to have a tenant lined up yet.
Gerrymandering, Prop 4, and the Blake Moore primary. Bryan explains why the real stakes of the Prop. 4 fight are in the legislative maps, not the congressional ones, and why the Moore vs. Lisonbee primary could be a bellwether for how angry GOP voters actually are about redistricting.
Plus, a candidate drops out of a state school board race over a fight about...a Facebook page, and Salt Lake City Council member Eva Lopez Chavez is out after buying a house outside her district.
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Utah Senate President Stuart Adams is under fire for some questionable donations to his political action committee, and he's not answering a single question about it.
This week Utah Political Watch reported five individuals and companies with deep financial ties to MIDA (the Military Installation Development Authority)—the powerful unelected state agency that Adams has chaired since 2008—collectively wrote $135,000 in checks to his leadership PAC on a single day, just one week after MIDA voted to approve the massive "Wonder Valley" / Project Stratos data center in Box Elder County.
Those checks were the five largest donations in the history of Adams' PAC. And Adams has already transferred the largest sum ever from that PAC to his own campaign account, as he faces his toughest reelection primary yet.
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Rep. Trevor Lee had a very, very bad week. He lost the Davis County GOP convention vote to Bob Stevenson. That came a few days after a website dropped with serious fraud allegations from two former employers. One features a signed confession of check fraud. The other involves explosive claims that Lee tried to use his legislative office to help steer a federal contract at Hill Air Force Base in exchange for retiring a $93,000 personal debt he owed to his employer.
The CD1 Democratic primary is getting more complicated by the day. What started as a two-person race is now a likely four- or five-way contest heading into convention weekend. Why Ben McAdams is the clear frontrunner—cash, name ID, and a district that's not as progressive as some assume—and why old online posts from Nate Blouin attacking the LDS church could be a serious liability in November, regardless of what happens in the primary.
Plus: Celeste Maloy qualifies for the CD3 primary via signatures while Phil Lyman races the clock; the legislature's investigation of Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen and what it's really about; Ken Ivory's close call in HD39; a preview of the state Republican and Democratic conventions; and Bryan's evening at the Bruce Springsteen show in Phoenix.
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In this episode:
a last-minute U.S.-Iran ceasefirethe beginning of convention seasonUtah's looming voter privacy rollbackSen. Mike Lee's rumored AG buzzand the subscriber-exclusive debut of the Utah Political Watch Race Ratings system.📰 Support journalist-owned, journalist-operated independent media at UtahPolitics.news.
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Another busy week in Utah politics:
Breaking down a new poll in CD1Candidates are facing signature-gathering deadlinesProp. 4 failed to qualify for the ballot—what happens next?The map that could end Celeste Maloy's careerSCOTUS rules against Colorado's ban on conversion therapy, but experts say it shouldn't impact Utah's ban.📰 Support journalist-owned, journalist-operated independent media at UtahPolitics.news.
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In this replay of a livestream recorded on March 24, 2026, we cover a lot of political news: Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall's creative legal gambit to potentially block a proposed ICE detention facility using water conservation rules; the razor-thin status of the Prop 4 repeal signature campaign with one Senate district teetering on the edge; the congressional races in Utah's new House districts; the unintended consequences of the Utah Republican Party's new one-year registration rule; Sen. Mike Lee's SAVE Act and the Lieutenant Governor's pushback; and more listener Q&A.
Topics & Timestamps[00:00] — Introduction[00:05:58] — SLC’s Water Ordinance Gambit to Block ICE Facility[00:14:50] — Prop 4 Repeal Update: Life Support in SD-15[00:22:01] — Congressional Races: CD2 (Moore vs. Lisonbee) & CD3 (Lyman vs. Maloy)[00:35:24] — The GOP’s One-Year Registration Rule: Unintended Consequences[00:45:55] — Lt. Governor Henderson Pushes Back on Mike Lee’s SAVE Act[01:05:30] — Closing & The Press Credential Lawsuit Update
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📰 Subscribe at UtahPolitics.newsSponsor the show: Got deep pockets and a masochistic love of Utah politics? Sponsor this podcast and support our coverage of this slow motion train wreck. Hit us up [email protected] us on social media: Bluesky TikTok Instagram Facebook ThreadsX/Twitter - Visa fler
