All 75 of the seats in the Utah House are up for election this year, along with 15 of 29 in the Utah Senate. Still, there’s not much uncertainty ahead of Election Day as Republicans are expected to keep or possibly even expand their supermajorities on Utah’s Capitol Hill.
Republicans hold 57 seats in the Utah House and 23 in the Utah Senate. Twenty-five Republican-held seats in the Utah House and five GOP-controlled seats in the Utah Senate are uncontested.
Perhaps the most intriguing race is the HD16 matchup between two Republicans and a Libertarian. Trevor Lee surprised incumbent Steve Handy to win the GOP nomination at the Davis County Republican Convention in March. Lee won the support of 59 of the 92 GOP delegates who cast a ballot that day, representing just 0.003 percent of the 18,951 registered voters in that district and 0.005 percent of the Republicans.
Early results on Tuesday night showed Lee ahead of Handy by about 1,200 votes, 48.7% to 35.7%. There could be a lot more ballots to count before there is a winner. In 2020, more than 17,000 ballots were cast in this race.
Handy, who did not take the signature path to get on the ballot, launched a write-in campaign in August in a long-shot bid to put him back in the Legislature for another term.
Lee has been swamped with controversy since winning the nomination. In April, Lee made transphobic comments on a conservative podcast while attacking Gov. Spencer Cox. In September, it was revealed Lee was behind an anonymous Twitter account that featured conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the #DezNat hashtag.
Since launching his write-in bid, Handy has outraised Lee by more than four to one. Handy has pulled in more than $103,000 in donations while Lee has been scrambling to catch up, posting just under $26,000 in contributions.
If Handy is successful, he would be only the second person ever to win a seat in the Utah Legislature through a write-in campaign. In 1970, Charles “Chic” Bullen defeated former Utah House Speaker Franklin Gunnell through a write-in effort.
In Weber County, incumbent Rosemary Lesser is trying to hold on to the only seat held by Democrats outside Salt Lake County against Republican Jill Koford.
Lesser was ahead of Koford 53.84% to 46.16%. A little more than 500 votes separated the two candidates after the first round of results on Tuesday evening.
Koford has raised more than $101,000 in campaign cash since winning the GOP nomination over Lorraine Brown. After losing the convention fight, Brown decided to endorse Lesser over Koford.
There were a handful of upsets brewing on Tuesday night.
In House District 26, Republican Quinn Kotter leads incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Weight 51% to 49%.
In Magna, Democrat Clare Collard is facing Republican Anthony Loubet in a rematch of their 2020 race that saw Collard prevail by fewer than 300 votes.
Loubet took the lead over Collard late Tuesday 51% to 49%.
Following last year’s once-a-decade redistricting cycle, there are just a handful of competitive races, with most of those in Salt Lake County, with several of those on the west side.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Election workers sort vote-by-mail ballots at the Salt Lake County ballot processing center on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.
The matchup in West Valley City’s House District 30 features two political refugees competing in a new district after the Legislature approved new boundaries last year.
Republican Judy Weeks Rohner is the incumbent in House District 33, but she was shifted into District 30 during redistricting. Her opponent, Democrat Fatima Dirie, narrowly lost the contest in District 33 two years ago by just 146 votes.
On Tuesday evening, Rohner led Dirie 49% to 45%. United Utah nominee Evan Rodgers had 6% of the vote.
Another rematch from 2020 takes place in Taylorsville’s House District 36, where Republican incumbent Jim Dunnigan faces Democrat Lynette Wendel. Dunnigan squeaked past Wendel by 84 votes two years ago.
Dunnigan had 54% on Tuesday night to Wendel’s 46%.
Republican Ken Ivory, who returned to the Utah Legislature after former Rep. Steve Christiansen resigned suddenly was locked in a close battle with Democratic newcomer Hope Goeckeritz in House District 39. Ivory led Goeckeritz by about 7 percentage points Tuesday evening, 54% to 46%.
Usually, there wouldn’t be much intrigue in northern Utah’s House District 1 contest, which has been reliably Republican for over a decade. However, the Republican nominee in the race is the former incumbent who resigned to take a job in Gov. Spencer Cox’s administration. He will most likely step aside again if he wins.
Joel Ferry was named as the new executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources in July, which was too late for the GOP to replace him on the ballot. Ferry resigned from the Legislature in August but kept his name on the ballot. His Democratic opponent, Joshua Hardy, sued, claiming Ferry was ineligible to serve if he won and asked the courts to force him out of the race.
After Ferry resigned, Republican delegates selected Thomas Peterson, who is running as a write-in candidate in the race, to finish the remainder of Ferry’s current term. Those same delegates will again select someone to serve in Ferry’s stead if he wins and resigns again.
Ferry cruised to an easy victory with more than 80 percent of the vote.
The Utah Senate contests on the ballot were holding to form Tuesday night with no upsets.
