Forward Party: Senate District 11 Race Is Now a Referendum on Utah’s Political Future
08/31/2026 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MacKenzie Miller, the Democratic candidate for Utah Senate District 11, has withdrawn his candidacy from the 2026 general election. His withdrawal leaves a head-to-head race between incumbent Senator Emily Buss of the Forward Party and Republican challenger Brooks Benson.
Forward Party Statement
The Forward Party of Utah issued the following statement in response:
“Something remarkable is taking shape in Utah Senate District 11. With the Democratic candidate out of the race, voters will now have a choice between the Forward Party incumbent and her Republican challenger.
By re-electing Senator Emily Buss, voters have a chance to reject partisan politics-as-usual.
The two-party system is broken. The gridlock and hyperpartisanship of our two-party system actively rewards division, enforces strict loyalty, and locks out independent candidates. Something must change.
Only 9% of Americans say they have confidence in Congress as an institution, and 60% of Utah voters say they do not feel represented by either the Republican or Democratic party.
This system is incapable of fixing itself.
The Forward Party has a clear mission. We are building an organized, resourced, and effective coalition of independent candidates; Senator Buss is one of many. Our goal in Utah is not to replace one supermajority with another. It is to build a political system where no one party can ever hold a supermajority, ever again.
What happens next in Senate District 11 is more than a competition for a single seat. It’s a contest between the status quo and a new vision for how our political system might work.
This race is now a referendum.
In just her first year, Senator Buss has already begun to prove the Forward Party concept. Separated from the pressures of party politics, she was free to be herself, and she did just that. She showed us that a senator can put her constituents first, then work across the aisle on their behalf. Her voting record is a clear example of independence in practice.
Emily now stands in the center of something bigger than herself. She won’t be standing alone. We believe that the voters will see her as a welcome alternative to the two-party system.”
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Background on Senate District 11 and Senator Buss’s Appointment
In 2025, then-Senator Daniel Thatcher left the Republican Party and joined the Forward Party. After he later announced his resignation from the Utah Senate, the Forward Party took an unprecedented approach to selecting his replacement: every registered voter in Senate District 11 was invited to participate, regardless of party affiliation.
This stood in contrast to the traditional replacement process used by Utah’s major parties, in which a much smaller group of party delegates selects the replacement.
The partisan makeup of participating voters closely mirrored that of the district as a whole, and the process ultimately selected Sen. Buss to fill the vacancy.
More information about the process is available at 11chooses.com.
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Sources
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Gallup, Confidence in U.S. Institutions Remains Near All-Time Low, July 2026
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Deseret News, Cox reacts as 6 in 10 Utahns say parties don’t represent them, April 2026
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Senate District 11 replacement process and results: 11chooses.com
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Analysis of Sen. Emily Buss’s voting record, BYU political science professor Adam Brown, X post
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Raw data from the Senate District 11 vote results available upon request
