Special Session with Bryan Schott

On this episode of Special Session:
Outgoing Senate President Stuart Adams threatens legal action against four critics, including State Auditor Tina Cannon. Her lawyer fires back with one of the sharpest legal smackdowns of the year.
Breaking down an absolutely chaotic seven-hour meeting of the Salt Lake County GOP Central Committee, including an attempt to oust the party chair, secret ballots and "election observers."
What Monday's Supreme Court ruling on mail-in voting could mean for vote-by-mail in Utah.
Enes Kanter Freedom's WNBA sideshow, with an assist from Sen. Mike Lee.
(This is a recording of a livestream that aired on 9/25/2026)
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In this episode:
New polling shows Donald Trump, Gov. Spencer Cox, Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis all underwater with Utah voters. We break down why the Deseret News's explanation for those falling numbers is wrong.
An update on the ongoing First Amendment lawsuit against the Utah Legislature over press credentials.
An analysis shows Utahns love vote-by-mail.
Utah's looming Medicaid funding shortage.
A Mike Lee fundraising email that quietly keeps 96% of donations.
Utah lands at the bottom of the rankings for women's equality for the 12th straight year.
The backlash against data centers goes viral with an outrageous ad from Jason Kelsey.
(This is a recording of a livestream that aired on 8/19/2026)
 
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Bryan Schott sits down with G. Elliott Morris—former lead data editor at 538, now running the election-data newsletter Strength in Numbers and the forecasting site 50 Plus One—to dig into a trend reshaping red-state politics: Democrats stepping aside so an independent can take on the GOP one-on-one.
They start with Morris's recent analysis of Montana's three-way Senate race, where independent Seth Bodnar is outpolling Democrat Alani Bankhead against Republican Kurt Alme—and only pulls ahead of the Republican once the Democrat exits the equation. Bryan draws the direct line to Utah's 2022 Senate race, when Democrats cleared the field for independent Evan McMullin against Mike Lee, and the two trace the same dynamic playing out in Nebraska with independent Dan Osborne.
From there, the conversation widens into the numbers driving the 2026 midterms: Trump's state-by-state approval collapse (including in Utah), the "affordability problem" dragging down his presidency, and why Morris's forecast gives Democrats an 85% chance of retaking the House and a 55% chance of flipping the Senate—plus how mid-decade redistricting has already cost Democrats roughly six House seats.
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On this week's episode:
The SAVE Act is dead (for now). Mike Lee's voter-ID bill couldn't get 50 votes, let alone the 60 needed to break a filibuster
Kevin O'Leary's mea culpa. The investor tells MS Now his team botched the rollout of Utah's controversial Box Elder County data center, an issue that helped sink Senate President Stuart Adams' reelection campaign.
Mendenhall on the Democratic Socialist debate. Salt Lake City's mayor says Democrats shouldn't let their agenda be purely reactive to Trump
Mike Lee's fundraising math. A joint fundraising email soliciting money for four GOP Senate candidates routes most of the money straight back to Lee's own campaign.
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On this episode:
Sen. Mike Lee's SAVE America Act is stalled in the Senate, so he's recruiting dead people to try and resurrect the bill. He invoked Charlie Kirk on social media this week, just a few weeks after doing the same thing with Lindsey Graham.
Federal Judge Robert Shelby rules Utah's gambling ban isn't preempted by federal commodities law, dealing the prediction-market Kalshi a major loss, with an appeal likely.
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson highlights the Justice Department's 0-20 record suing states over voter rolls, plus the administration's renewed push to restrict vote-by-mail through USPS.
Medicaid work requirements from last year's federal budget bill are set to take effect in 2027, with state officials estimating roughly 40,000 Utahns will lose coverage.
Sen. John Curtis backs Todd Blanche for attorney general and takes heat from the right over his temporary-worker visa bill.
Diarrhea lettuce and salmonella jalapeños.
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BYU sociology professor Dr. Jacob Rugh joins Bryan Schott to dig into the numbers behind Utah's political shift.
Rugh says Utah has swung further left since 2004 than almost any other state. He explains why MAGA has never fully taken over Utah's Republican Party the way it has nationally and what that means heading into the 2026 midterms.
The conversation covers the collapse of Phil Lyman's campaign, Stuart Adams' primary loss over data centers, shifting voter registration trends, the ongoing Prop 4 redistricting fight, and what declining LDS self-identification means for the state's political future.
Guest:Dr. Jacob Rugh, professor of sociology at Brigham Young University. Follow him on Bluesky: @JakeRugh.
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On this episode:
Sen. Mike Lee picks yet another fight with his own party over the SAVE Act
Stuart Adams lost his election, but the checks kept coming.
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson with a subtweet for the ages
Burgess Owens says incumbents losing elections is putting Utah on the path toward socialism
__________Hit the subscribe button to stay up-to-date on the latest Utah political news.📰 For more Utah political coverage, go to UtahPolitics.newsSponsor the show. Email podcast@utahpolitics.news.Follow us on social media: Bluesky TikTok Instagram Facebook ThreadsX/Twitter LinkedIn