2012 Utah Attorney General election

2012 Utah Attorney General election

←  2008 November 6, 2012 2014 (sp)  →

GOP DEM LIB Nominee John Swallow Dee W. Smith W. Andrew McCullough Party Republican Democratic Libertarian Popular vote 638,492 295,317 53,018 Percentage 64.70% 29.93% 5.37%

County results Congressional districts results Swallow:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Smith:     40–50%

Attorney General before election Mark Shurtleff Republican Elected Attorney General John Swallow Republican

The 2012 Utah Attorney General election was held on November 6, 2012. Mark Shurtleff, incumbent Attorney General of Utah, elected to retire. Republican John Swallow won the election, defeating Weber County Attorney Dee W. Smith in a landslide. Swallow underperformed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the concurrent presidential election by 13%. Swallow resigned less than a year into his term after investigations into improprieties.

General election

Candidates

• John Swallow, Chief Deputy Attorney General for Utah and former state senator (Republican)
• Dee W. Smith, Weber County Attorney (Democratic) ^[1]
• W. Andrew McCullough, perennial candidate, Libertarian nominee for this office in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 (Libertarian)

Results

2012 Utah Attorney General election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Swallow	638,492	64.70%	4.62
	Democratic	Dee W. Smith	295,317	29.93%	3.33
	Libertarian	W. Andrew McCullough	53,018	5.37%	1.29
Total votes			986,827	100.00%	N/A
	Republican hold

By congressional district

Swallow won all four congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat. ^[3]

District	Swallow	Smith	McCullough	Representative
1st	66%	29%	5%	Rob Bishop
2nd	61%	33%	5%	Chris Stewart
3rd	71%	24%	5%	Jason Chaffetz
4th	60%	34%	6%	Jim Matheson

See also

• 2012 Utah gubernatorial election

References

1. "Dee W. Smith". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
2. "2012 General". Utah Voter Information. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
3. "utah 2012 ag-by-cd".