Sharp differences on Utah’s same-sex marriage ban have emerged between incumbent Attorney General Sean Reyes and challenger Charles Stormont

Sharp differences on Utah's same-sex marriage ban have emerged between incumbent Attorney General Sean Reyes and challenger Charles Stormont, reports Desert News.

In what may be the only time the candidates meet head-to-head before the November 4th election, the two took part in a debate on Wednesday sponsored by the Utah Debate Commission at Brigham Young University.

While Republican Reyes said he has a duty to uphold state law, Democrat Stormont said he would not waste taxpayer money fighting an unconstitutional law in a case the state has no chance of winning.

Referring to Amendment 3 defining marriage as between a man and a woman, Reyes said the Attorney General cannot pick and choose which laws to uphold”

"You can't cut and run. You can't thwart the democratic process because you think that you're smarter than the Supreme Court. If my opponent would take off his political glasses for a moment and put on his lawyer lenses or leader lenses, he would see how dangerous that precedent is that he's proposing."

Arguing that 40 lower courts have already overturned bans on same-sex marriage, Stormont countered:

"You tell your clients what their likelihood of success is going to be in court. It's time to actually start giving good, honest, fair legal advice to the people of Utah. We've had far too much political advice on hot-button issues."

During the debate, the candidates also differed on how corruption allegations against former attorneys general Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow should be dealt with.

Watch an interview with Stormont, AFTER THE JUMP…