Herbert to serve first full term as governor


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SALT LAKE CITY — Republican Gov. Gary Herbert has won his race to serve his first full term in office.

Herbert had faced Democratic challenger Peter Cooke and was the heavy favorite in a state that has not elected a Democratic governor since Scott Matheson in 1980. Cooke is a retired Army general.

The 65-year-old Herbert became governor in 2009 when then-Gov. Jon Huntsman joined the Obama administration as the ambassador to China. He served out the remainder of Huntsman's term and was seeking a full term.

He talked in his acceptance speech about America's future.

"I'm here to tell you the best hope for America as we go forward is the states, and led by Republican governors, this country will survive, we'll have a bright future, and Utah will be the one that leads by example."

In an interview with KSL Tuesday night, he said that Utah will be an example of responsibility nationally.

"We're showing the rest of the country how to be efficient in government and how to be good stewards of the tax payers dollar so we need to say on the right course," Herbert said.

He added that Utah is "headed in the right direction" overall, but has issues, looking forward, to work through, including water supply and education.

He and Cooke clashed on issues including energy, health care and education. Herbert has vowed to fight the Obama administration on health care and to push for more energy exploration on federal land that makes up two-thirds of the state. He wants Utah to take over management of many of those lands by 2014.

In Cooke's concession speech, he said that the state needs to "see non-discrimination" and called for equality. He continued his fight for education and public lands, and for transparent government.

Last week's KSL/Deseret News poll put Herbert ahead in the race for governor with 69 percent of voter support, as opposed to Cooke's 24 percent. Eight percent of voters were undecided.

Contributing: Associated Press


Governor Results
CandidateVotes %Winner
Kirk Pearson /Tim Aalders (CON)1%
Peter Cooke /Vincent Rampton (DEM)27%
Ken Larsen /J. Robert Latham (LIB)2%
Gary Herbert /Greg Bell (REP)68%
1,306 of 2,335 precincts reporting at 11:00 p.m.
For a complete listing of the election results, click HERE.

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Keith McCord

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