Utah is a weird place for politics. Honestly, if you're looking at a map of the 2024 United States presidential election in Utah, it's easy to just see a big block of red and move on. You'd think, "Oh, it's Utah, of course the Republican won." But that's kinda lazy.
The 2024 cycle actually told a much more nuanced story about how the Beehive State is changing. Yeah, Donald Trump won. He took the state's six electoral votes with 59.39% of the popular vote. That’s a bump up from his 2020 numbers. But here’s the kicker: Kamala Harris actually pulled 37.81%, which is the highest share a Democrat has grabbed in Utah since 1964.
Think about that. In a year where the rest of the country was swinging hard to the right, Utah did this weird "staying put" dance.
The Trump Comeback and the Harris Ceiling
People love to talk about Utah’s "Mormon problem" with Trump. Back in 2016, a huge chunk of the state basically revolted and voted for Evan McMullin. By 2024, that vibe had mostly faded into a standard Republican alignment, but the "never-Trump" undercurrent is still there, just hiding in the suburbs.
Trump didn't just win; he improved. He pulled in 883,818 votes. That’s roughly 18,000 more than he got last time. Most of that growth came from rural counties where the margins are, quite frankly, insane. We’re talking about places like Rich County and Duchesne County where the Republican ticket was pushing 80% or 90%.
But then you look at Kamala Harris.
She got 562,566 votes. While she lost, she actually performed better than Joe Biden did in 2020 in terms of raw percentage. Utah was one of the only states in the entire country where the Democratic candidate actually improved their percentage share. It’s a tiny victory, but in a deep red state, it’s a signal that the urban-rural divide is widening into a canyon.
A Tale of Two Utahs
If you live in Salt Lake City, the 2024 United States presidential election in Utah felt like a totally different event than if you were in St. George.
- Salt Lake County: This is the blue heart of the state. Harris won here, though she actually lost some ground compared to Biden. People were maybe a little less enthusiastic, or maybe the "Future Madam Potus" write-in (yes, that was a real thing on the ballot) siphoned off a tiny bit of energy.
- The Suburbs (Davis and Utah Counties): This is where the real fight is. These areas are historically Republican but have a high concentration of college-educated voters who are... let's say "skeptical" of the current GOP direction.
- The Rural Block: Total lock for Trump. No surprises there.
Why the "Red State" Label is Kinda Misleading
Everyone calls Utah a "Safe Red" state. And for the 2024 United States presidential election in Utah, the pundits were right. Every major outlet—Cook Political Report, Sabato, CNN—had it as "Solid R" from day one.
But look at the Governor's race. Spencer Cox won, but he only got about 53%. He was actually getting attacked from his own right wing by Phil Lyman, who ran a massive write-in campaign. Lyman grabbed over 200,000 votes as a write-in. That is unheard of.
It shows that the Republican party in Utah isn't a monolith. There's a massive internal struggle between the "Institutional Republicans" (the Spencer Cox types) and the "MAGA Republicans." Trump effectively bridges that gap for the presidential ticket, but the cracks are showing everywhere else.
The Third-Party Factor
Utah usually loves a third-party spoiler. Remember 2016? McMullin almost made it a three-way race.
In 2024, that energy was... well, it was basically gone. Chase Oliver, the Libertarian, barely cracked 1.14%. Joel Skousen (Constitution Party) and Jill Stein (Green Party) were both sitting around 0.5%.
Basically, Utahns decided that if they were going to vote, they were going to make it count for one of the big two. The "protest vote" shifted from third parties to either sitting out or, in the case of the Governor's race, writing in a specific name.
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Voter Turnout: A Record but a Dip?
This is where the math gets a bit confusing.
Utah actually set a record for the total number of votes cast in 2024. Over 1.5 million people turned in a ballot. That’s huge! It’s the most humans who have ever voted in a single Utah election.
However, because the state's population is exploding, the percentage of active voters who showed up actually dropped. In 2020, turnout was a massive 90.09%. This time? It was around 85.36%.
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson was still pretty hyped about it, though. I mean, 85% is still way higher than the national average. Utahns take their mail-in ballots seriously. About 88% of people voted by mail or drop box, proving that despite all the national noise about "election integrity," Utah’s system is widely trusted and used by its residents.
What This Means for You
If you're living in Utah or just watching from the outside, the 2024 United States presidential election in Utah proves a few things about the future.
First, the "blue shift" in Salt Lake and Summit counties isn't a fluke. It’s a permanent fixture. As long as the tech industry (Silicon Slopes) keeps bringing in people from out of state, the Democratic floor is going to keep rising.
Second, the Republican party is having an identity crisis. Trump is the glue right now, but once he’s off the stage, the fight between the Spencer Cox moderates and the Phil Lyman hardliners is going to get messy. We saw that clearly in the 2024 results.
Actionable Insights for the Next Cycle
- Watch the Primary, Not the General: In Utah, the real "election" for most offices happens in the Republican primary or the convention. If you want a say in who runs the state, you sort of have to be involved in the GOP internal process.
- Follow the Suburbs: Keep a close eye on Davis and Weber counties. They are the "swing" areas of the state. If they start drifting further toward Harris-style percentages, the state’s "Solid Red" status might actually start to look "Likely Red" or even "Lean Red" in a decade.
- Register Early: Utah has great mail-in voting, but you’ve got to be an "active" voter to get that ballot in the mail automatically. Check your status at vote.utah.gov.
- Don't Ignore the Small Guys: While third parties flopped in the presidential race, the United Utah Party and others are still trying to find a "middle way." They aren't winning yet, but they represent a lot of the "politically homeless" people in the state.
Utah is definitely still a Republican stronghold, but it's no longer a predictable one. The 2024 United States presidential election in Utah showed us a state that is growing, changing, and maybe a little bit tired of the standard political playbook. Whether you’re happy with the results or not, the data says Utah is moving into a very different political era.
Keep an eye on the 2026 midterms. If the write-in energy and the urban-rural split continue to grow, we’re going to see some very interesting primary battles that could reshape the state’s leadership long before the 2028 presidential race even starts. Over 1.5 million people just spoke, and while the "red" won the day, the "blue" and the "unaffiliated" are making more noise than ever before.