Is being a Mormon a prerequisite to getting elected in Utah?

[The Arizonan]

It seems like just about every politician in Utah is a member of the Latter Day Saints and I get the feeling that Jason Chaffetz would have not gotten elected to Congress if he didn't convert to Mormonism.

Is it possible to hold higher office as a non-Mormon in Utah, ableit as a Republican?

[Zioneer]

At this point? Yes. It shouldn't be so, but it's de facto true.

There have only been three non-Mormon Governors of Utah, and I think only two non-Mormon Senators. It's been over 100 years for the Senators, and over 60 years for the governors. So I think that it's necessary to be Mormon to win.

However, you don't seem to have to be more than perfunctory Mormons (MINOs, I suppose). As I understand it, Cal Rampton and Scott Matheson were not very devout Mormons and they both won twice (Rampton a third time).

[progressive85]

Does anyone see in the future Salt Lake City having its own district and electing someone like Jackie Biskupski?  Could a Democratic SLC-based district be drawn right now?

[NOVA Green]

At this point? Yes. It shouldn't be so, but it's de facto true.

There have only been three non-Mormon Governors of Utah, and I think only two non-Mormon Senators. It's been over 100 years for the Senators, and over 60 years for the governors. So I think that it's necessary to be Mormon to win.

However, you don't seem to have to be more than perfunctory Mormons (MINOs, I suppose). As I understand it, Cal Rampton and Scott Matheson were not very devout Mormons and they both won twice (Rampton a third time).

Is still also the case for lower level elected governmental offices in Utah?

Is the mayor of SLC a partisan office??? What about State House/ Senate districts based in heavily Democratic SLC?

Isn't SLC about 40% Catholic or something of that nature, and LDS members are a minority of the city vote--- recall reading something of that nature awhile back, but couldn't recall if it was an historical stat or relatively current....

Not very familiar with local Utah politics, so rather than go through all of the research figured one of our few resident experts on Utah politics would be able pull this up much more quickly and with a high caliber analysis....   

[Zioneer]

Does anyone see in the future Salt Lake City having its own district and electing someone like Jackie Biskupski?  Could a Democratic SLC-based district be drawn right now?

Probably not Biskupski, but a Democratic Salt Lake County (contains the city, but also other municipalities) based district could be drawn and elect Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, or most of the 13 legislators in the county. It'd be a pretty purple district, favoring moderate but not conservative Dems.

[Zioneer]

At this point? Yes. It shouldn't be so, but it's de facto true.

There have only been three non-Mormon Governors of Utah, and I think only two non-Mormon Senators. It's been over 100 years for the Senators, and over 60 years for the governors. So I think that it's necessary to be Mormon to win.

However, you don't seem to have to be more than perfunctory Mormons (MINOs, I suppose). As I understand it, Cal Rampton and Scott Matheson were not very devout Mormons and they both won twice (Rampton a third time).

Is still also the case for lower level elected governmental offices in Utah?

Is the mayor of SLC a partisan office??? What about State House/ Senate districts based in heavily Democratic SLC?

Isn't SLC about 40% Catholic or something of that nature, and LDS members are a minority of the city vote--- recall reading something of that nature awhile back, but couldn't recall if it was an historical stat or relatively current....

Not very familiar with local Utah politics, so rather than go through all of the research figured one of our few resident experts on Utah politics would be able pull this up much more quickly and with a high caliber analysis....   

It's not the case for the state legislature or county offices, there's plenty of non-Mormons (pretty much all Democrats) in those offices.

Mayor of SLC is not partisan, and is held by a gay non-Mormon, and hasn't had a Mormon mayor for a couple decades now. County Mayor is held by a moderate Mormon Democrat.

There's only about 3 Mormon Democrats in the state legislature, the rest are various other religions. There is one non-Mormon Republican, and one who "prefers not to say".

Salt Lake City is still plurality Mormon, but definitely not majority Mormon anymore. In fact, I think the area that contains LDS Church headquarters is represented by an openly gay state senator and also an openly gay city councilman. I don't know where you got the Catholic numbers.

In speaking of having to be Mormon, I mostly mean the statewide offices. Lower offices are fair game for non-Mormon, though they tend to be represented by Mormons anyway, unless they're Democrats.