Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox is running for reelection this year with funding from some of the nation’s largest Democrat donors.
In December, Cox received a $50,000 donation from David E. Cumming and another $50,000 donation from John Cumming, both of whom registered their contributions under the same Wyoming address as the Cumming Foundation. The foundation’s vice president and executive director, Annette Cumming, was previously the board chair for Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and is currently on the Planned Parenthood Federal Political Action Committee.
John Cumming was among the “biggest donors” of the 2020 election cycle and gave nearly $370,000 to Democrats, according to campaign finance data recorded by OpenSecrets. Past political contributions in Utah include $50,000 to the Utah Democratic Party between 2008 and 2013. John Cumming has made more than $620,000 in political contributions since 2007. The only Republicans to receive funding were Cox in December and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who received $4,600 in March 2007, a month after launching a presidential campaign.
David Cumming’s previous contributions include thousands of dollars to a lineup of Democrat politicians including President Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The $100,000 from left-wing donors is no small sum for the western red-state governor. Cox has raised less than $1.7 million so far this election cycle, according to Deseret News.
The self-styled Republican governor of Utah has spent the last few years endorsing a litany of left-wing social causes, including transgender pronoun activism and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. One of the governor’s first acts in office three years ago was to sign the Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion sponsored by the Salt Lake Chamber.
“A racially equitable state requires us to act and create a society in which race and ethnicity do not determine or limit value, opportunity, and life outcomes,” the compact reads. “We view racism as more than just an individual character flaw. It is a system of ideas, beliefs, practices, structures, and policies that give some people greater opportunity to be fully human and live a happier and healthier life than others. Unraveling centuries of internalized and systemic racism requires bold anti-racist actions and policies right now.”
Cox’s Lieutenant Gov. Deidre Henderson also signed the statement.
In 2021, the governor defended racism against white kids. A constituent had asked Cox whether it was racist for the state’s NBA team, the Utah Jazz, to exclude white children from the organization’s scholarship program. Students had to graduate high school and be a “person of color” to be eligible for the scholarship, with dozens awarded to nonwhite students since the program’s inception.
“It’s not racist,” Cox said of the explicitly racist program. “The Jazz can do what they want with their funds. All kids should have equal opportunities, and we’re proud of the Jazz.”
In 2022, Governor Cox went on to veto a ban on males in girls’ sports.
“Anyone that’s interacted with the transgender community understands how amazing they are and how difficult it can be for them. I don’t want to make things harder for them than they have to be,” Cox said. The state’s Republican legislature passed an override of the governor’s veto weeks later.
A month after Cox sought to kill the transgender sports bill, the governor was mocked by then-Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson for introducing himself with his pronouns in 2021.
“‘My preferred pronouns are he, him, his,’ Cox tells a room full of children,” Carlson said, airing a clip of the governor’s introduction. “So, we’ve got that cleared up. Spencer Cox identifies as a male, at least to some limited extent.”
Cox had also previously listed his pronouns on his Instagram bio but removed them following the backlash over his refusal to bar males from competing in female athletic programs.
The Utah governor ultimately signed a bill banning transgender medical interventions for minors last year. However, the legislation only barred such procedures and hormone interventions for minors who have not been formally diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The details of the bill still allow minors to seek medical interventions if they find sympathetic physicians who are eager to serve up diagnoses of dysphoria — which can easily be found online.
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