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The election of Barack Obama is the big headline to come out of last night's election, but he isn't the only one. Here in Utah a number of important races were decided, and while incumbents held onto their seats in most cases, there were some upsets.
Even though Utah remains overwhelmingly Republican, Democrats have made some inroads in Salt Lake County, particularly in the east bench. The biggest change you'll see in the Legislature this upcoming session is a new speaker in the House.
Just two years ago, House Speaker Greg Curtis held on to his seat in District 49 with a mere 20 votes. This year he outright lost it to Jay Seegmiller. The spread was a whopping 1,380 votes.
Political pollster Dan Jones explained it by saying, "The longer you're in, the more enemies you accumulate. And he managed to do that."
What Greg Hughes managed to do was hold on to his Legislative seat. Hughes had been in the hot seat for alleged ethics violations but was cleared of the charges. Still, Jones predicts ethics reform will play a major role in party politics. "And with ethics and all that coming up, I really look for more of a two-party system in the Legislature than we've had in the past, both psychologically and also in numbers," he said.
In the Senate, embattled Republican Chris Buttars had the numbers to hold on to his seat by a comfortable margin.
In the executive branch, Republicans swept the night, none more so than Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has a clear mandate for his second term.
Jones said, "Jon Huntsman, Jr. is going to have plenty of power, but he loves to work both sides of the aisle."
Again, Republicans swept the state offices, but Democrats did pick up two seats in the House, though official tallies aren't in. It's still too early to see how the Senate is trending, but you could see some gains there as well.
For more election results, click here.
E-mail: lprichard@ksl.com
