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Sean D. Reyes

Republican Party

Prior offices:

Attorney General of Utah

Years in office: 2013 - 2025

Predecessor:John Swallow (R)

Successor:Derek Brown (R)

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Brigham Young University

Law

University of California, Berkeley

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign X

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Sean D. Reyes (Republican Party) was theAttorney General of Utah. He assumed office on December 30, 2013. He left office on January 7, 2025.

Reyes (Republican Party) ran for re-election forAttorney General of Utah. He won in the general election onNovember 3, 2020.

Biography

Reyes was born to immigrant parents of Spanish, Hawaiian, and Asian heritage. Reyes attended Brigham Young University for his bachelor's degree and then University of California at Berkeley Law School, from which he graduated with his J.D. in 1997. Before his nomination as attorney general, Reyes worked in private practice, spending 14 years at the state's largest law firm, Parsons Behle & Latimer.^[1]

Reyes eventually became a partner at Utah's Parsons Behle & Latimer and was the first person to be awarded the title "Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year" in 2008 by theAmerican Bar Association. He spent two years as an executive committee member of the Utah State Bar and was president of the Utah Minority Bar.

Reyes was appointed by Gov.Jon Huntsman (R) to serve on the Third District Judicial Nominating Commission and spent years working on President George W. Bush's National Congressional Commission, conducting public hearings throughout the country to advise the administration and Congress on Latino issues.^[2] Prior to his appointment, he worked as an attorney and judge.

Prior to being elected attorney general, he was general counsel for Utah media and technology company eTAGZ. Apart from his professional duties, Reyes founded multiple nonprofit organizations focused on education, business, and anti-fraud awareness.^[2]

Education

• B.A., Brigham Young University (1994)
• J.D., U.C. Berkeley (1997)

Elections

2024

See also:Utah Attorney General election, 2024

Sean D. Reyes did not file to run for re-election.

2020

See also: Utah Attorney General election, 2020

Utah Attorney General election, 2020 (June 30 Republican primary)

General election

General election for Attorney General of Utah

IncumbentSean D. Reyes defeatedGreg Skordas andRudy Bautista in the general election for Attorney General of Utah on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sean D. Reyes (R)	60.6	878,853
	Submit photo	Greg Skordas (D)	33.7	489,499
		Rudy Bautista (L)	5.7	82,444

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,450,796
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Utah

IncumbentSean D. Reyes defeatedDavid Leavitt in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Utah on June 30, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sean D. Reyes	54.0	275,212
		David Leavitt	46.0	234,036

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 509,248
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic convention

Democratic convention for Attorney General of Utah

Greg Skordas defeatedKevin Craig Probasco in the Democratic convention for Attorney General of Utah on April 25, 2020.

		Candidate
		Kevin Craig Probasco (D)
✔	Submit photo	Greg Skordas (D)

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican convention

Republican Convention for Attorney General of Utah

Select round:Round 2Round 1

The following candidates advanced in theranked-choice voting election:David Leavitt in round 2 , andSean D. Reyes in round 2 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Sean D. Reyes	57.5	2,014	236	Advanced (2)
		David Leavitt	42.5	1,488	486	Advanced (2)
		John Swallow	0.0	0	-790	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Sean D. Reyes	49.8	1,778	0	Advanced (2)
		David Leavitt	28.1	1,002	0	Advanced (2)
		John Swallow	22.1	790	0	2

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 3,570
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

2016

See also:Utah Attorney General election, 2016

Reyes filed to run for re-election to a full term in 2016; he was unopposed for the Republican nomination.^[3]

IncumbentSean D. Reyes defeatedJon Harper,Andrew McCullough, andMichael IsBell in the Utah attorney general election.

Utah Attorney General, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Sean D. ReyesIncumbent	65.41%	719,043
	Democratic	Jon Harper	25.07%	275,568
	Libertarian	Andrew McCullough	6.73%	73,973
	Independent American Party	Michael IsBell	2.79%	30,687
Total Votes				1,099,271
Source:Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office-Elections

2014

See also:Utah attorney general special election, 2014

A special election was held on November 4, 2014, to determine who would complete the term of resigned attorney general John Swallow. With his term not scheduled to expire until January 2017, Swallow's early departure in December 2013 prompted the special election as well as the appointment of Reyes to fill in the office during the intervening year. He won theRepublican primary on June 24 without opposition, and defeated four challengers in the general election on November 4, 2014.

Results

General election

Attorney General of Utah, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Sean ReyesIncumbent	63.1%	355,275
	Democratic	Charles Stormont	27%	151,967
	Libertarian	Andrew McCullough	4%	22,333
	Constitution	Gregory Hansen	3.3%	18,722
	Independent	Leslie Curtis	2.7%	15,108
Total Votes				563,405
Election results viaUtah Lieutenant Governor

2012

See also:Utah attorney general election, 2012

Reyes was a 2012Republican primary candidate forUtah attorney general. He lost toJohn Swallow in the primary contest on June 26, 2012.

• Primary-2012 Republican Race for Attorney General
  • Reyes garnered 32% of the primary vote.

Attorney General of Utah, Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
John Swallow	68%	156,644
Sean D. Reyes	32%	73,868
Total Votes		230,512
Election results viaUtah.gov.

^[4]

Appointments

Reyes was appointed attorney general by Gov.Gary Herbert (R) effective December 30, 2013.^[5]

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Sean D. Reyes did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Notable endorsements

See also:Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this individual made in elections within Ballotpedia'scoverage scope.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Noteworthy events

Tested positive for coronavirus on November 22, 2021

See also:Government official, politician, and candidate deaths, diagnoses, and quarantines due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020-2021

Coronavirus pandemic
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Reyes announced on November 22, 2021, that he tested positive for COVID-19. He said he was vaccinated at the time he contracted the virus.^[6]

Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Reyes currently resides in Cottonwood Heights with his wife Saysha and their six children.^[2]

See also

2020 Elections

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Footnotes

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