UT Governor: Spencer Cox (R)
PROFILE
About Cox:
Cox grew up in the heart of Utah, part of the sixth generation of a farming family in rural Fairview—and about as far away from Utah’s capitol as anyone could imagine. The oldest of eight children, Spencer learned honesty, responsibility and the value of hard work early.
After high school, Cox enrolled at nearby Snow College. He put his education on hold for a two-year church mission to Mexico, which taught him the drive to make a difference that only comes from seeing extreme poverty. When he returned, he and his high school sweetheart Abby completed their studies at Snow.
Plans to attend BYU quickly changed when he realized Abby was committed to Utah State University. He followed her to Logan, where they became proud Aggies, married and started their family.
Graduating with a 4.0 GPA and receiving USU’s Student of the Year honors got Cox an acceptance letter to Harvard but he opted instead for the smaller Washington and Lee University of Law “because it felt right,” where he received his Juris Doctor.
After graduation, he clerked for U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart and started a successful law career at Salt Lake City’s Fabian Clendenin. He and his family moved back home when his dad asked him to help manage CentraCom—the Cox family’s telecommunications company for over 100 years.
He then served as city councilman, mayor, county commissioner and state representative.
Then, the unexpected happened: Utah Governor Herbert called and asked the freshman representative to become his new lieutenant governor.
When Gov. Herbert chose to not run for reelection, after a lot of thought Cox decided to run for governor and give a voice to all of Utah’s 29 counties and 248 towns.
The biographical information above was sourced from the candidate’s campaign website and Ballotpedia profile, see links below for more information.
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