Grey Carter (1986-) was the Republican Governor of Utah from 25 April 2016 to 11 March 2019, preceding Natalynn Cays. Carter presided over a policy of strict fiscal conservatism as Governor, overseeing unwavering opposition to Democratic proposals for additional social programs, as well as the growth of the state budget by $20 million during his first year. However, his later tenure saw Utah fall into a steep economic decline and depression, leading to the Democrats recovering from their catastrophic loss in 2017. He left office in 2019 with a budget deficit of $272 million.
Biography[]
Grey Carter was born in Beaver, Utah in 1986, and he came from a family of Mormon farmers. Carter attended Brigham Young University and became a Federalist Society-affiliated lawyer in Salt Lake City before entering politics with the Republican Party. Carter ran for Governor of Utah in 2016, and he defeated the veteran Democratic lawmaker Velroy Holman by a margin of 61.4% to 38.6% in an election with a turnout of 58.2%. Carter's victory coincided with a sweeping Republican victory in the state legislature, with the Republicans winning 34/48 seats in the State House, compared to the Democrats' 14 seats.
Governorship[]
The State House in 2017, after Carter's second landslide
Carter inherited a budget of $148 million with a weekly increase of $3 million, and his legislature pursued a fiscally conservative course, voting 32-15 against a proposed public housing bill, leading to three weeks of progressive protests. The state also voted 30-12 along party lines to abolish the consumption tax, 30-14 in favor of a school bus tax, 44-1 in favor of a copyright law to increase tax income, 42-3 for a dog license, 30-14 against a waste tax, and 31-14 in favor of a national football league. On 16 January 2017, the Democratic Party initiated ten weeks of strikes to protest the GOP's staunchly conservative policies. However, the strikes did little to improve the Democrats' standing with the public, and, on 27 March 2017, the Republican Party increased its share of the vote from 70.65% and 34 seats in 2016 to 78.40% and 38 seats in 2017, while the Democratic Party fell from 29.35% of the vote and 14 seats in 2016 to 21.60% of the vote and 10 seats in 2017. On 10 April, Carter was easily re-elected by a margin of 72.6% to 27.4%, increasing his personal popularity by 11.2%. A humiliated Velroy Holman resigned, and he was replaced by the younger Kash Hansen as House Minority Leader.
The State House in 2018
Within a week of Carter's second term, the budget had risen to $171 million with a weekly increase of $1 million. During Carter's second term, the state legislature voted 31-10 to approve the death sentence, 33-11 to approve a driving license, 40-1 to legalize gambling, and 26-10 against an immigration ban, Democratic lawmaker Nymphus Meacham was implicated in a corruption scandal and forced to resign, the state legislature voted 32-11 to approve military service, 34-10 to ban protests, 42-2 to increase the number of seats in the legislature from 48 to 54 seats, 35-11 against a basic income, and 36-9 to create a tax haven. Carter's neoliberal economic policies led to an economic downturn as spending outpaced budget growth, and, by the time that new elections were held on 12 March 2018, the budget had fallen to negative $57 million with a weekly decline of $4 million. The elections resulted in the Democrats winning 25.68% of the vote and 14/54 seats in the State House, while the Republicans fell to 74.32% and 40/54 seats. On 26 March 2018, Carter won re-election by a margin of 65.8% to Kash Hansen's 34.2%, doing 6.8% better than Holman did at the last gubernatorial election.
Governor Carter's third term saw the economy continue to struggle from a severe depression, but the legislature refused to abolish the Olympic Games or the driving license program. Instead, the legislature voted 47-2 to legalize prostitution, 35-17 against abolishing the death penalty, 36-15 against abolishing protest prohibition, 25-15 in favor of food control, 51-1 against an immigration ban, and 46-2 in favor of prison labor. On 25 February 2019, as the budget fell to negative $268 million with a weekly decline of $2 million new elections were held. The Republicans fell to 68.79% and 37/54 seats, while the Democrats won 31.21% and 17/54 seats, gaining three seats. However, freshman Democratic representative Packer Bradshaw defected to the GOP a week later. On 11 March 2019, the Republican Natalynn Cays was elected Governor by a margin of 59.7% to Hansen's 40.3%, succeeding the term-limited Carter.