Former NBA player, ex-Cougar Shawn Bradley seeking office, among surprises on filing day

SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Tim Cosgrove, D-Murray, faces some tall competition for re-election: 7-foot-6 Shawn Bradley — a Republican who played basketball for the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Nets, the Dallas Mavericks and the BYU Cougars.

"I had a lot of friends and people in the Legislature encourage me to run," said Bradley, a surprise candidate who filed just before the deadline Friday afternoon.

"This is something that I have thought about for a long time. But I had to be in the state for three years to qualify. Because I have been out of the state playing basketball, I only recently qualified," said Bradley, who now lives in Murray. "I've always been interested in politics, and I would like to make a difference in people's lives."

Others in that legislative race are Republican Raymond J. Poole and Libertarian Erin M. Partridge.

Bradley's entry may have been the biggest surprise, no pun intended, as the deadline for filing for political office hit Friday. But some other smaller surprises occurred — including that filing deadline day essentially became election day for four lucky state legislators who are running unopposed. They will win unless write-in opposition arises.

Those lucky lawmakers — all Republican House members — are Reps. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan; Brad Last, R-Hurricane; Mike Noel, R-Kanab; and Kraig Powell, R-Heber.

Another minor surprise is that Dell "Superdell" Schanze is running again — this time seeking the GOP nomination for governor against incumbent Gary Herbert and Republican Richard Martin.

Another minor surprise may be just how much opposition three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, attracted. Ten people filed against him, including seven Republicans (who say Bennett is not conservative enough), two Democrats and one Constitution Party member.

The Republicans, besides Bennett, include four who have been campaigning actively: entrepreneur Tim Bridgewater, former congressman Merrill Cook, businesswoman Cherilyn Eagar and attorney Mike Lee. Other late-filing Republicans are David Y. Chiu, Jeremy Friedbaum and Leonard J. Fabio.

Democrats Sam Granato and Christopher Stout and Constitution Party candidate Scott N. Bradley also filed for the Senate race.