1 Utah House seat may flip to Democrats, early returns show; GOP still dominates Legislature

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Preliminary results in Utah House and Senate races don't indicate a shake up is in store in the Republican-dominated bodies.
Republicans led in three targeted House contests, while Democrats led in three others and were on the way to possibly flip one post.
No shifts are in the offing in the Senate, with incumbents leading in key races.

SALT LAKE CITY — At least one seat in the Republican-dominated Utah Legislature appears in play, according to preliminary vote totals released Tuesday evening, but a big shake-up doesn't seem to be in the offing.

Democratic and Republican leaders in Utah identified six of 75 Utah House seats as focuses of their attention, the District 10, 26, 27, 30, 35 and 42 posts, all but one in Salt Lake County, where Democrats are more concentrated. According to preliminary returns, unofficial and incomplete, Republicans were leading in three of them while Democrats led in three others and were on the way to possibly flipping one, the District 30 post.

In the Senate, 15 of 29 seats are on the ballot this cycle, with four identified by party officials as focuses of efforts to flip, three held by Democrats, one by a Republican. Incumbents led in each of the races, indicating, at least at this stage, that no seats will shift.

As is, Republicans hold a supermajority in each of the chambers — more than two-thirds of the posts — and that isn't threatened, according to preliminary vote tallies. Republicans currently hold 23 of 29 Senate seats and 61 of 75 House seats.

Here's a look at vote totals so far in some of the legislative races singled out for attention by Democratic and Republican officials:

House District 10: Incumbent Rep. Rosemary Lesser, a Democrat, led Republican Jill Koford, 5,215 votes to 4,935 votes, a 51.4%-48.6% split. District 10 sits within Weber County, and the seat is the only legislative post held by a Democrat outside Salt Lake County. Koford unsuccessfully challenged Lesser for the seat in 2022, and Republicans have pushed hard to flip the seat.

House District 26: Incumbent Rep. Matt MacPherson, a Republican, led Democrat Jeanetta Williams, 4,227 votes to 3,807 votes, a 52.6% to 47.4% split. MacPherson took over the seat mid-term after Quinn Cotter, who won the Salt Lake County seat in 2022 by a 127-vote margin, stepped down last year. Williams heads the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP.

House District 27: Incumbent Rep. Anthony Loubet, a Republican, led Democrat Dawn Stevenson, 4,570 votes to 3,921 votes, a 53.8% to 46.2% margin. Loubet won the Salt Lake County seat by a slim 67-vote margin in 2022.

House District 30: Democrat Jake Fitisemanu, a West Valley City Council member, led Republican Fred Cox, a Utah House member in the 2010s, 4,463 votes to 4,012 votes, a 52.7% to 47.3% margin. Rep. Judy Weeks Rohner, a Republican, now holds the Salt Lake County post, but she's vying this cycle for the District 12 seat in the Utah Senate. If Fitisemanu wins, the seat would flip from Republican to Democratic control.

House District 35: Democrat Rosalba Dominguez, a member of the Murray City Council, led Republican Mike Bird, who works for University of Utah Health, 5,865 votes to 5,210 votes, a 53% to 47% split. Rep. Mark Wheatley, a Democrat, now holds the Salt Lake County seat but isn't seeking reelection. Wheatley had endorsed Dominguez.

House District 42: Republican Clint Okerlund led Democrat Travis Smith, 9,042 votes to 8,057 votes, a 52.9%-47.1% split. Rep. Robert Spendlove, a Republican, now holds the Salt Lake County seat but isn't running again this cycle.

Here are preliminary results in four Utah Senate races that partisans have eyed this cycle for flipping:

Senate District 3: Republican Sen. John Johnson led Democratic challenger Stacy Bernal, 17,953 votes to 13,340 votes, a 57.4%-42.6% split. The district covers parts of Weber, Morgan and Summit counties.

Senate District 10: Democratic Sen. Luz Escamilla led Republican challenger Kyle Erb, 9,603 votes to 7,137 votes, a 57.4%-42.6% split, for the Salt Lake County seat.

Senate District 12: Democrat Sen. Karen Kwan led Rohner, the Republican challenger, 11,331 votes to 8,174 votes, a 58.1%-41.9% split, for the Salt Lake County seat.

Senate District 15: Democrat Sen. Karen Riebe led Republican Scott Cuthbertson, 18,619 votes to 12,675 votes, a 59.5%-40.5% split, for the Salt Lake County post.

Three Senate races and 20 House races are uncontested.

Correction: In an earlier version, Jake Fitisemanu's last name was incorrectly spelled.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.