Republican Michael Murphy Seeks Wasatch County Council Seat F Appointment

A Wasatch County Council seat covering Hideout, Timber Lakes, and the rural eastern reaches of the county could be filled within weeks with no meaningful competition, because defense contractor Michael Murphy appears to be the only Republican who stepped forward to claim it.

Murphy, a Timber Lakes resident and associate member of the Wasatch County Planning Commission, is seeking the midterm appointment to Seat F. The vacancy opened when Council Chair Karl McMillan resigned effective April 2, 2026, after announcing he would shift to palliative care following what he described as "cancer problems." McMillan had represented Seat F since 2023 and had filed for reelection before his health made continuing impossible. Fellow Republican Bruce Zollinger had also exited the race before the vacancy arose, leaving Murphy as the only name in the pool.

Under Utah law and Wasatch County Republican Party bylaws, the council has 30 days from April 2 to fill the seat, a timeline confirmed by Alex Stoedter of the Wasatch County Attorney's Office. Because McMillan was a Republican, his replacement must be one as well.

Murphy was formally nominated as the party's general election candidate at the Wasatch County Republican convention on April 7 at Rocky Mountain Middle School, where more than 250 members turned out and selected him by a show of hands. Interim party chair Patty Sprunt said the party plans to poll delegates by phone to determine whether anyone objects to recommending Murphy for the appointment. The County Council retains final authority.

Sprunt is herself a placeholder in an unsettled party: she stepped in after David Nephi Johnson, the elected Wasatch County GOP chair, was charged with felony child abuse in February 2026. Despite that turbulence, the April 7 convention drew a nearly 90% quorum, a turnout Sprunt said exceeded her expectations and reflected how consequential this cycle is considered within the party. Three council seats, A, C, and F, are on the 2026 ballot.

Seat F's geographic footprint is substantial: the district takes in all land east of Mill Road and Center Street in Heber City, plus all of Hideout, Timber Lakes, and rural eastern Wasatch County. Those boundaries push the seat's representative into decisions affecting communities that increasingly share economic and infrastructure ties with neighboring Summit County. Murphy, a county and state delegate with no prior elected experience, would carry that portfolio as a first-time officeholder.

He will face a contest in November. Democrat Joseph Tugaw, a retired real estate investor and business analyst from the western Jordanelle area who also helps manage a family cattle ranch in Idaho, is running for the same seat. Neither candidate attended a Wasatch County candidate debate held on April 3. Primary ballots go out June 2, with the election set for June 23.

If the council confirms the appointment, Murphy would enter that race as the incumbent, a structural advantage earned not at the ballot box but through a party phone poll and a council vote, in a district where no other Republican raised a hand.