TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — It is believed to be a first in Utah political history when two parties voted to merge into one.
In a near-unanimous vote, members of the United Utah Party and the Forward Party approved a merger at a special joint convention on Saturday held at Salt Lake Community College.
“If we come together, we have more power to do what we want to do and to be able to make positive changes in Utah,” said Katie Awercamp, a Forward Party member who voted in support of the merger.
Party leaders hope it will offer a new home for those who consider themselves “politically homeless.”
“I think Utahns are looking for someplace to go that represents who they are and I think this provides them an opportunity for a place to land,” Michelle Quist, a former United Utah Party candidate for attorney general who was elected as the new combined party chair, told FOX 13 News.
Both the United Utah Party and Forward Party bill themselves as centrist alternatives to Republicans and Democrats. That is appealing for some.
“Initially, I was a Republican and with Trump taking over that party, I didn’t feel like I had a political home,” said Spencer Harris, a member of the United Utah Party. “So this is a way for me to participate in the political process in a way that I feel good about.”
There are benefits to the merger for both sides. The United Utah Party has more registered members in this state, while the Forward Party brings with it national name ID (they will keep the Forward Party name) and big name backers. Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who also served as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator under President George W. Bush, is one of the Forward Party founders. So is businessman and political commentator Andrew Yang.
“The fastest growing, and it’s larger now than the Republican or Democrat, are the independents,” Whitman said Saturday while attending the Utah convention. “The people who are disaffiliated who say neither of these parties reflect my values. I need something different, I want something different. That’s what Forward is providing.”
No one attending Saturday’s convention believed they would immediately be able to break the dominance the Utah Republican Party has over state politics. The Utah GOP holds a supermajority in the Utah State Legislature and the congressional delegation are all members. But the Forward Party does plan to fundraise, recruit volunteers and candidates and will endorse Republicans and Democratic candidates in primaries who align with their party values.
“We’d like them to run as Forwardists, but we will support Republicans, Democrats or independents as long as they agree to what is essentially our platform,” Whitman told FOX 13 News. “Which they have to sign a pledge, and the pledge says I agree to uphold the rule of law, respect the constitution, work with anyone to solve problems, create a safe space to discuss controversial issues and work to ensure the process is open and anyone who has the legal right to vote gets to vote.”
The Forward party does have a little momentum in that they already have a sitting state lawmaker on Utah’s Capitol Hill. Sen. Daniel Thatcher quit the GOP on the final day of the 2025 Utah State Legislature, fed up with what he called “the crazy” of Republican politics and joined the Forward Party.
“It’s really easy to say we already have third parties,” Sen. Thatcher told FOX 13 News on Saturday. “But what we don’t have anyone doing what the Forward Party is doing right now.”
Sen. Thatcher noted that under current Utah politics, there are really no swing districts anymore. But he believed the Forward Party has the potential to influence elections.
“With the Forward Party being able to endorse and support candidates in primaries, this is a way that we can actually make sure we are electing people that are committed to representation instead of consolidation of the current partisan dysfunction,” he said.
It will likely be a couple of months before the party merger is complete. First, the Forward Party as it exists now will have to dissolve in Utah. Then, the United Utah Party will file with the Lt. Governor’s Office to change its name to the Forward Party.
Meanwhile, Quist said she and other members of the new party will get to work.
“We aren’t only the centrist party. We want to bring moderate voices together and conservative voices together and progressive voices together,” she said. “Where we find solutions to problems rather than extremist voices who refuse to talk together.”
