Sean Reyes

Early Life and education

Reyes was raised in Southern California. His father was an immigrant from the Philippines of both Filipino and Spanish descent. His mother was of Native Hawaiian and Japanese descent. He is a cousin of Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay.

Reyes received his bachelor's degree with summa cum laude distinction from BYU in 1994. Reyes attended UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) and received his law degree with honors marks in 1997. While attending law school, Reyes played for the Cal Men’s Varsity volleyball team, was an officer on the Asian Law Journal with a focus on Asian Pacific American economic and policy issues, and volunteered as a high school teacher for Street Law Instructor.

Law practice

Reyes was a lawyer at Utah's biggest law firm, Parsons Behle & Latimer. Immediately before being appointed attorney general he was serving as general counsel for Springville, Utah based eTAGz. After his work with PB&L, Reyes formed Reyes Legal Management and was also a partner with venture capital firm Accelerate Ventures.

Reyes has also served on the boards of many non-profit institutions, including one conducting education against fraud. He has also involved with the National Commission on Museum for American Latino.

Reyes also served as a small claims judge for the 3rd District Court of Utah.

Reyes received the first-ever National Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the American Bar Association.

Political career

Reyes ran for Attorney General of Utah in 2012 against John Swallow. He lost the primary election with a margin of 69 to 32 percent. In December 2013, John Swallow resigned from office. Reyes was then selected as one of three candidates by the GOP State Central Committee on Dec 14, 2013. Governor Gary Herbert appointed Reyes as the next Attorney General of Utah on Dec 23, 2013.

Because of Utah's election laws, Reyes had to run in the Utah elections, 2014 to be elected to finish out the original term of John Swallow. He was the Utah Republican Party candidate, and prevailed with 63.06 percent of the vote over Utah Democratic Party candidate Charles A. Stormont, and Libertarian candidate Andrew Mccullough.

Reyes is the first ethnic minority to become the Attorney General of Utah or to hold statewide office in Utah.

Reyes was appointed by Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. to serve as one of the youngest members of the Third District Judicial Nominating Commission; he spent several years on a National Congressional Commission started by President George W. Bush. Appointed by Congress and the President of the United States, Reyes conducted public hearings throughout the country to advise the Administration and Congress on Latino issues.

Immediately after taking office, Reyes appealed Judge Robert J. Shelby's ruling that struck down Amendment 3, the state's same-sex marriage ban. The estimated $2 million price tag in appealing Shelby's ruling was criticized The Advocate, Daily Kos, and ThinkProgress. In response, Reyes stated "We're willing to spend whatever it takes to protect the laws and the will of the people" and that "everyone benefits from appealing the case."

As a member of the National Attorneys General Association, Reyes co-chairs the Human Trafficking Committee, co-chaired the Civil Rights Committee from 2015–16, and currently sits on the Consumer Protection, Law Enforcement, Federalism, Internet Safety/Privacy, Veterans Affairs Committees. Since his reelection in 2016, Reyes has also been an active leader as a member of the Conference of Western Attorneys General, having most recently hosted and keynoted at the CWAG Cyber Security and Technology Forum in February 2017.

In 2016, Reyes was honored with the Law Enforcement Leader Special Service Award from the Utah Sheriffs Association for support of law enforcement, for training programs to protect law enforcement and de-escalate violence among law enforcement in the communities they police. He was also recognized with the National Leadership Award from the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility in 2015 and 2016 for working with teens and producing PSAs in English and Spanish to prevent underage drinking among youth. Reyes continues to extend his role as Utah Attorney General to advocate for anti-bullying and educate on teen suicide. Most recently, he and his office team worked closely with Utah state legislators and the University of Utah's University Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI) to develop SafeUT, the crisis text and tip line app for Apple and Android mobile devices that is offered as a statewide service to provide real-time crisis intervention to youth through texting and a confidential tip program.

In February 2016, Reyes was ranked 21st on Newsmax's list of the top 50 Most Influential Latino Republicans.

In late January 2017, Reyes was named as a top candidate for the chairmanship of the Federal Trade Commission by officials in the Trump administration.

Personal

Reyes is a sought after public speaker by professional and legal organizations, businesses, Boy Scout groups, law schools, undergraduate programs and high schools and other youth groups on the topics of the importance of education, civics and the law, business etiquette and various other topics including consumer protection, anti-trust and cyber security; he is a regular panelist and keynote speaker at Salt Lake Comic Con and is a former mixed martial arts fighter.

Reyes and his wife Saysha are the parents of six children.

Reyes and his immediate family belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Reyes lists church involvement on his campaign website.