| Morgan Philpot | |
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| Member of the Utah House of Representatives from the 45th district |
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| In office 2001–2004 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | J. Morgan Philpot July 30, 1971 |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican, Tea Party |
| Spouse(s) | Natalie |
| Residence | UT |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Religion | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Website | Campaign website |
J. Morgan Philpot is a former state representative for District 45 in the heart of Salt Lake County, and the 2010 Republican nominee for Utah's 2nd congressional district. He is a former vice-chair of the Utah Republican Party.
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Philpot has been involved in politics for much of his life. He was a White House intern in 1997 and has been active in Republican politics in Utah for a number of years. In addition to being a state and county delegate, he ran and won a seat in the Utah House of Representatives in 2000. He ran again in 2002 and won another term. Just before the end of his second term, he resigned his seat and went to the Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, MI.
Upon graduation, he returned to Utah where he worked for Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, before accepting his current position as the General Counsel and Government Affairs director for Reagan Outdoor Advertising.
While in office, Mr. Philpot sponsored the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship bill, the Prohibition of Public Funding for Abortion and the Designation of Constitution & Bill of Rights Day in Utah. He received awards from the Utah Taxpayer's Association, from "Grass Roots" which gave him top honors in 2002 (the first year they started the awards), 2003 and 2004. He also received the "Guardian of Small Business" from NFIB and the Statesmanship Citation from the Newquist group.
In early 2009, Philpot declared his intention to run against the incumbent vice-chair of the state Republican party. He won that race with 52% of the vote. While in office, he helped to create a Web Communications committee, which publishes a monthly newsletter and reaches out via social media. On Jan 15, 2010, he announced his resignation as party vice-chair and his intention to run for Utah's Second Congressional District. He lost to Democrat Jim Matheson (a 10 year incumbent and son of a former Governor) by 4%.
On December 1, 2011 Philpot officially announced his plans to run for Governor of Utah. At the press conference he said that current Governor Gary Herbert has not done enough to assert the states power in the face of the federal government. He also said that the federal government as it stands is leading the nation toward a European style socialist democracy. Philpot also commented that he would fight the federal government's power to enforce programs like the 2010 health care law passed by the United States Congress with lawsuits and would even be willing to be taken away in handcuffs in defiance of the law.