Sen. Dan McCay won’t seek reelection next year if his wife, Tawnee McCay, is elected Riverton mayor, he announced Wednesday on social media.
The Republican senator has represented Riverton since he was elected to the Utah House in 2012. He was then elected to the state Senate in 2018.
For her part, Tawnee McCay has served the southwestern Salt Lake County suburb as a member of the Riverton City Council since 2018. She secured 33.2% of the vote in the August municipal primary for Riverton mayor, allowing her to advance to the general election. She will face fellow council member Tish Buroker, who captured 60.3% of the vote in the three-way primary contest.
In a video on the social media platform X, Sen. McCay acknowledged concerns from some who thought it “may feel weird to have two elected officials in one house,” but said that’s already been happening for years while Tawnee has served on the council.
“We really don’t vote on the same issues or even go to the same meetings, but our partnership has served Riverton well, with record transportation funding in the south end of the valley,” McCay said in the video. “But I would hate to be the reason someone doesn’t vote for the best candidate for mayor in Riverton. So I’m going to take that issue off the table: if Tawnee wins for mayor, I won’t run for reelection in 2026.”
Tawnee has been her husband’s “biggest cheerleader” for 26 years, Sen. McCay added, so now he says it’s his turn to support her. He ended the video with a formal endorsement for his wife.
The general election for Riverton mayor will be held Nov. 4. Incumbent Mayor Trent Staggs announced he would not seek reelection in March, and was tapped in May to join President Donald Trump’s administration as a regional advocate within the U.S. Small Business Administration.