Meet Derek Brown, the Republican running to be Utah’s next attorney general

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of stories profiling the candidates running for attorney general in Utah this year. Read more about Democratic candidate Rudy Bautista here. A story on third-party candidates Michelle Quist and Andrew McCullough will be published in the coming days.
Gov. Spencer Cox, former Gov. Gary Herbert, Sen. Mike Lee and former Democratic attorney general candidate Greg Skordas have a bevy of political differences. But this year they all ended up supporting the same candidate, Derek Brown, a Republican running for Utah attorney general.
Brown is running for an open seat — one Skordas said he tossed around running for again. But then after hearing Brown was running, he said he thought, “if I ran against Derek Brown, I would vote for Derek Brown.” Skordas, a lifelong Democrat, said he and Brown have different policy views, but he trusts him as a leader and a person.
“I’m all in for Derek Brown,” said Skordas, explaining through his several interactions with Brown, he sees him as an honest person with integrity. “When I heard he was running for attorney general, it was the best news I had that month.”
Lee’s a conservative on the opposite side of the aisle from Skordas, but he also supports Brown. The two go back years. Lee recruited Brown to work at the law firm Sidley Austin, and later Brown worked for Lee’s office as deputy chief of state and Utah state director. In a video endorsing Brown, Lee said, “I’ve fought side-by-side with Derek on conservative issues for 20 years. I trust Derek Brown as attorney general to fight back and win.”
After setting off on the campaign trail nearly a year ago, Brown’s run for attorney general is winding down to a close, as ballots are out and the polls will close in less than three weeks. A September poll from the Utah Debate Commission shows Brown at the front of the pack of candidates that includes Democrat Rudy Bautista as well as third-party candidates Michelle Quist (United Utah Party) and Andrew McCullough (Libertarian). Unaffiliated candidate Austin Hepworth is also running. Current attorney general Sean Reyes did not seek re-election.
Brown has said during campaign events that he has four reasons for running — Alex, Zak, Eliza and Spencer, his children.
The bright afternoon sun illuminated the downtown campaign offices as Brown and his wife, Emilie de Azevedo Brown, sat down to explain more of how Brown decided to pursue a legal career and ended up with a foray into politics.
Had Brown been plotting to run for Utah attorney general, he said he would have taken a very different route than the one he took.
Derek and Emilie Brown first met in Spain when serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They both ended up attending Brigham Young University and soon married after reuniting there. After graduating from BYU in 1996, Brown had been accepted into law school and the couple decided to defer a year to travel to Europe. When they returned, they ended up living in the basement of Emilie’s father, Lex de Azevedo. While attending church, Derek Brown met Scott Howell, the former Utah Democratic Senate leader. Howell offered an internship to Brown during the legislative session.
“And I said, ‘I’m not sure that I’m a Democrat,’” said Brown, adding Howell persuaded him to take it by saying Brown would have a good time and he didn’t care what his political persuasion was. That job and Brown’s relationship with Howell helped him land another job interning for former Utah Attorney General Jan Graham.
The Browns soon came to a crossroads — they needed to decide where Brown would go to law school. Emilie Brown’s career was taking her to Los Angeles, so Derek Brown decided to go to law school at Pepperdine University. Both Derek and Emilie Brown said this was a pattern in their lives. They wanted to create “a marriage of equals,” and have spent the last two decades trading off where they live depending on whose job was the priority at that moment.
Derek Brown clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit and his career took him to a multinational firm to practice constitutional and appellate law. He served as legal counsel for Sen. Bob Bennett and then the Browns returned to Utah because Emilie Brown’s career in public television was flourishing in the state. Soon after returning, Derek Brown served as legal counsel for Sen. Orrin Hatch and then worked in the private sector. He ran successfully for a state House seat (District 49) in 2010 and later resigned his seat to work in Lee’s office.
By 2016, Brown returned to the private sector. Then, as the Utah Republican Party was facing serious financial difficulties, he ran for party chair in 2019. The Monday after his election, Brown said the lights worked in the party offices, but that was about it. The phones were not working and the party had to climb its way out of debt.
During Brown’s term as party chair, the party became, as he put it, a functioning organization. He said under his leadership, the party was successful in turning a blue congressional seat red and won several other races. But he decided not to run for another term.
“I think that our system was designed to step up, serve and step out,” said Brown, explaining that’s a philosophy that has guided him for years. He returned to the private sector for a couple years before announcing his attorney general run in 2023.
The main issues Brown said he wants to tackle as attorney general are preserving First Amendment rights, holding Big Tech accountable, fighting for Utah lands and energy.
When state lawmakers started looking into taking on social media issues, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, said Brown was quickly hired to represent social media companies in negotiations.
“I always appreciated his approach with that because it was not in an air of ‘let’s try to shut this down or kill it,’” said Teuscher. “But how do we balance the business needs that are here, but also try to protect kids in the same way?”
Teuscher and other lawmakers who have worked on Utah’s social media legislation endorsed Brown soon after he announced his run for attorney general. As Brown became more involved with the negotiations, Teuscher said social media companies were more willing to work out a compromise and understand what the state was trying to do.
“I don’t think there is anyone that’s running for attorney general that understands the issue more than Derek Brown, because he’s been living it with us over the last couple of years,” said Teuscher. He said he is supporting Brown because he has seen him as a great leader and person with integrity — “He is one that doesn’t tell you what you want to hear, but tells you what you need to hear. And can do it in a way that everyone likes him.”
Brown has said he would work with the right attorneys to fight to get Utah’s land from the federal government and indicated he would continue the current litigation on public lands.
When it comes to the landmark lawsuit Utah filed to get back some of Utah’s public lands, he said during the attorney general debate that it was “critical that as a state we have the ability to control (the land) and not individuals who are unaccountable 1,800 miles away.”
Those who know Brown best described him as a person of integrity whose central focus is his family and community.
Lindsi Stevens, one of his neighbors, got to know Brown as she ran a local children’s choir at Brookwood Elementary School. The choir got together every morning at around 7:30, said Stevens, and for multiple years, Brown volunteered as an accompanist.
“I think one of the great things about Derek is he wants everyone else to be happy and sacrifices for that,” said Stevens, explaining no matter what he had going on, he always made time for the kids at Brookwood. Stevens said she has seen him in many different situations and said he is the kind of person who seeks out people who need to be lifted up.
“At family parties and gatherings, he’ll be over talking with somebody who’s kind of alone,” said Lex de Azevedo, Brown’s father-in-law. “He’ll seek out the person that’s alone and just go be with them.”
Calling Brown a peacemaker and a person without guile, de Azevedo said Brown is “not a quote, politician, unquote. He is not the one that says things to get somewhere.” He explained he thinks Brown’s top priorities are God and his family. “He loves his wife. He loves his children. He loves his God. He’s devoted to them. He gets up there and plays organ in church every Sunday. And he’s just a good guy.”
“Derek is supported by an amazing spouse Emilie,” said Teuscher, adding he thinks she is a big reason why Brown is as successful as he is. “I think one of the great things that comes with Derek is it’s sort of a packaged couple here, where you get Emilie as well.”
Emilie Brown said she sees a pattern with her husband — whenever there’s an opportunity to serve, he does it.
“I know who I married,” she said. “He steps up and he brings his unique set of gifts, his unique experience and personality and problem solving ability.”