Meet Andrew McCullough, the Libertarian running to be Utah’s next attorney general

Editor’s note: This is one of a series profiling the candidates running for attorney general in Utah this year. Read more about Republican candidate Derek Brown here and Democratic candidate Rudy Bautista as well as United Utah Party candidate Michelle Quist here.
Andrew McCullough is a man with a message. This isn’t his first run for Utah attorney general. He ran in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016 and now again in 2024 — under the Libertarian banner each time.
McCullough said he doesn’t like Utah government interfering with people’s ways of life.
“I don’t like censorship. I don’t like the deliberate, willful violation of the Fourth Amendment to get people in the war on drugs,” said McCullough. Quoting Eugene Debs, who ran for president five times as the Socialist Party of America candidate, McCullough said he is running to change ideas.
“I love the idea that I’m here to protect people against the powers of the state,” he said.
If McCullough is elected as attorney general, he said would only spend four years in the office and isn’t seeking any additional public office.
“I would like to think after four years that people could say to themselves, I feel a little bit more free than I did before he was elected,” said McCullough. He’s running in a field where polling from the Utah Debate Commission shows Derek Brown, the Republican candidate with the lead. The Democratic candidate Rudy Bautista is next followed by United Utah Party candidate Michelle Quist and then McCullough. Unaffiliated candidate Austin Hepworth is also running.
McCullough grew up near Albany, New York, and he used to spend his Monday evenings watching the New York Legislature in session. This started his love of politics and then he went to Brigham Young University to study political science. Afterward he went to University of Utah for law school.
“I clearly did, you know, go from being a die-hard Republican to being a bomb-throwing Libertarian,” said McCullough, describing his political journey, adding he become something of “a free spirit.”
McCullough described his law practice as “colorful.” He’s been practicing law for 51 years and for the last couple decades has had his own law practice. There he practices criminal defense, including on drug cases, and also free speech cases and cases involving the adult entertainment industry.
As McCullough has continued his practice of law, he said he has become “emotionally involved in women’s procreation rights.” When the state says a person can’t do something, McCullough said he is passionate about defending that person.
In the case of the “war on drugs,” McCullough said he takes on cases defending people who are arrested for possession of drugs. He said something has to change because the state is “losing the damn war and they’re putting everybody in jail over it.”
McCullough said he does not believe people should be arrested for marijuana in particular because Utah is surrounded by multiple states where marijuana is legalized. He said his passion for defending people comes from a realization that he had — “I don’t have to live like everybody else.”
It’s become something of an obsession of his, said McCullough. In previous conversations, he said he would look at not continuing the lawsuits over social media companies because he felt like parents should be responsible for their children. He also said he feels strongly about preserving people’s First Amendment rights.
McCullough was critical of several of the laws passed by the Utah Legislature.
“They want to pass laws on pornography. They want to pass laws on abortion. They want to pass laws on alcohol. They want to pass laws on smoking. They want to pass laws on Sunday closing,” said McCullough, explaining he thought these laws had the aim of getting people to conform.
Telling a story from his run for a local House seat, McCullough said he became friends with the Republican candidate (who ended up winning the election). “I would guess we turned out to be friends because he’s really a fine gentleman,” he said. “But by golly, he just doesn’t see the world I do.” He said he appreciated the dialogue he has with this lawmaker.
But McCullough said he thinks the Utah Legislature passes too many laws restricting what people do. If elected, McCullough said he would work to ensure Utahns were not afraid of the police.
To him, a Libertarian, that is a more important priority than cutting taxes.