Republican Sen. Daniel Thatcher announced Friday he's abandoning the Republican Party to join the fledgling Utah Forward Party after years of mounting frustration.
Thatcher says the decision was a long time coming.
“People kept asking me, what was the last straw? The reality is there wasn’t a last straw. I feel like it’s been just bales of hay after bales of hay,” Thatcher said.
Thatcher's defection comes with a scathing indictment of his former party. He accused the Republican legislative majority of becoming increasingly disconnected from voters, pointing to two controversial moves that pushed him over the edge: Amendment D, which would have given lawmakers unprecedented power to override citizen initiatives, and this year's contentious labor bill stripping public employees of collective bargaining rights.
“The public is being ignored. The public is being treated with…what else do you call it but contempt? I can’t be a part of that anymore,” Thatcher said.
Thatcher blames the Republican caucus and convention system — which he says is broken — for that attitude because it allows a small number of Republican delegates to determine who gets elected.
“These are things that disconnect the legislature from the public, that make us not representative,” Thatcher says. “I don’t believe I owe voters my obedience, but I do owe them an accounting, and I feel that accounting is sorely lacking in our current setup.”
Thatcher now enters political no-man's-land for his final year in office — refusing to caucus with either Republicans or Democrats. When asked what he can realistically accomplish as a party of one, he responded with characteristic bluntness:
“The fact of the matter is any bill with my name on it is not going anywhere and I know that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t bring stakeholders together and find good ways to do things,” Thatcher says.
“Maybe the entirety of my next year will be setting an example that you don’t have to settle. You don’t have to go along to get along.”
Utah Republican Party Chairman Rob Axson and Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman Chris Null issued a joint statement following Thatcher's announcement.
"The principles of the Republican Party Platform are enduring, guiding lights for the vast majority of Utahns. When we lose sight of these principles, we risk losing our way. The Republican label no longer matches his new approach. Changing his affiliation seams to be appropriate and an honest reflection of his changing beliefs. While our paths now diverge, we commend him for the times he stood in defense of our shared principles and hope he continues to do so," they said.
The last time a sitting Utah lawmaker ditched their party was in 2016 when former Sen. Mark Madsen left the GOP to join the Libertarian Party.
Thatcher has clashed with his Senate Republican colleagues and gone against Senate leadership on some high-profile votes in recent years.
Thatcher has also struggled with health problems since suffering a stroke in 2022.
