Chief Deputy Utah Attorney General John Swallow is one step closer to taking over his boss’s job. Tuesday, he became the Republican nominee for Attorney General by defeating Sean Reyes.
Swallow called the heated primary a long and difficult battle, but says the real fight still lies ahead:
“Until November we really don’t have the right to move forward with the agenda. And the agenda really is to continue to fight to protect the rights of the people of Utah. To make sure our families are safe; our kids can go to school without fear, they can be on the Internet without fear. That we can fight for access to our public lands so we can actually fund education and continue to stand up to the federal government when they try to run our lives."
Swallow beat Reyes with 68% of the vote. Reyes then endorsed Swallow and urged his supporters to do the same, but said Tuesday’s result shows that negative campaigning is effective.
“It’s disappointing that in the process things like attack PAC ads can really hijack a campaign. Especially one that was so close. You can see the effects of this where two weeks ago we were in a virtual tie and you have these malicious ads come out and you see the results.”
Last week, Reyes filed a defamation lawsuit against Swallow, who now goes on to face Democratic Weber County Attorney Dee Smith and attorney Andrew McCullough, the Libertarian candidate, in November.