Lee undeterred by Count My Vote compromise: 'I'll run; I'll win'

Published March 11, 2014 8:23 pm

Election reform • Law would open new path to 2016 primary.

Washington • Sen. Mike Lee says he's gung-ho about running for re-election in 2016 and is confident he'll win — no matter what system Utah has in place for selecting candidates.

Lee, a tea-party darling who supporters of the Count My Vote effort had said helped prompt efforts to change the state's primary system, said just off the Senate floor that while the nominating system will be different, it won't change his focus.


Gov. Gary Herbert signed the bill into law and Tuesday praised it as a sound compromise. It won't take effect until the 2016 election.

Lee, who exited the Senate chamber Tuesday with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, didn't want to criticize the changes, opting only to say he is moving forward no matter the path to the nomination.

Count My Vote, which had raised $1 million and gathered 100,000 signatures, agreed to suspend its efforts once Herbert signed into law an alternative route onto the primary ballot for candidates who didn't want to go through, or didn't make it, in the caucus-convention system.



"The cost-benefit analysis says that you shouldn't bother to go to the convention ever again if you're running for a statewide race because [signature gathering is] so much cheaper," Bennett says, noting that contenders often spend tens of thousands of dollars winning over delegates instead of saving that money for a primary battle.





"It does look to me like it's a successful compromise that brought people from both sides together," Hatch said Tuesday. "To me that's a good thing."


everyone participates and the shrillest voices on both sides don't control the process.




Freshman Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, who captured the 2012 nomination in a controversial and accusation-filled 2nd Congressional District convention fight, said he sees the new process driving more money into campaigns, and helping candidates who are wealthier or better fundraisers. But he's taking a wait-and-see approach.



Robert Gehrke contributed to this report.