Fred Cox (politician)

Cox is a Utah native and lifelong resident of Salt Lake County. He attended the University of Utah and Utah Technical College (now Salt Lake Community College), graduating with an Associate of Applied Science in Architectural Technology. He started his own architectural firm in West Valley City, UT in 1996.^[1]

Cox has served as a State Republican Delegate beginning in 2002, is an elected member of the State Republican Central Committee representing Salt Lake County, served briefly as the Salt Lake County Republican House District 32 Chair, and has been a campaign volunteer and/or consultant for several state and local races starting in 1994. He has been involved in government affairs for both AIA Utah and ChamberWest Regional Chamber of Commerce along with church based community service.^[2]

Cox was originally elected to be the party nominee in a special election on January 6, 2011 to replace Ron C. Bigelow who announced on December 22, 2010 he was to be the Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget as of January 1, 2011. Cox was appointed January 10, 2011 by Governor Gary Herbert and completed Bigelow's term for 2011 and 2012.^[3][4] In 2012 Cox ran for the new House District 30 against another incumbent Rep. Janice Fisher and lost in a close race. In 2014 Cox ran for the open seat against Michael D. Lee and won by a very slim margin.

During the 2016 Legislative session, Cox served on the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, the House Government Operations Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee.^[5]

In 2019 and 2020, Cox was the original sponsor, one of five, for the 2019 Utah Tax Referendum. The bill, 2019 SB 2001 was later repealed by the legislature and Governor. 144,675 petition signatures were verified meeting the requirements in 26 of 29 counties with an estimate of between 152,000 and 170,000 signatures gathered. Verification was stopped.^[6][7]

In February 2020, Cox announced he was running for Salt Lake County District 2. In April he survived the Republican convention and made it to the June Primary, where he lost.^[8]

^[9]

Cox passed three of the bills he introduced in 2016. Two of the bills were added to other bills that also passed. He did not floor sponsored any Senate bills. Cox also passed bills in 2011, 2012 and 2015.^[9]