The margins were slim, but two of Salt Lake City’s Democratic primaries Tuesday leave candidates Derek Kitchen and Jennifer Dailey-Provost as likely nominees for the November election.
In the race for State House District 24, Dailey-Provost held a less than 100-vote lead over second-place opponent Igor Limansky. As of Wednesday, she led 1,552-1,468 as some mail-in ballots were yet to be counted. The race will be validated on July 10 after the county clerk finishes tallying the ballots.
“I’m certainly not going to take any public victory laps,” Daily-Provost tells City Weekly. “While it’s unlikely that it will flip, by no means does it mean that Igor should concede the race until we all know.”
Dailey-Provost was endorsed by outgoing Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck in the predominantly liberal SLC district. She is currently the executive director of the Utah Academy of Family Physicians.
Dailey-Provost says Chavez-Houck has been a “great mentor” to her over the years at the Capitol and will take some of what she learned from her to the Legislature if she wins come November.
“The No. 1 the goal is to get work done,” Dailey-Provost says about what she learned from her mentor. “If it means having a Republican sponsor legislation so it’s more likely to get through, and you don’t necessarily get the credit, that’s OK, because it’s about the outcome.”
Jacquelyn Orton and Darrin Mann, two other candidates vying for the nomination in the district, earned less than 1,000 votes. The winner faces Republican Scott Rosenbush in the general election.
In SLC’s other predominantly Democratic district—State Senate District 2—Salt Lake City Councilman Derek Kitchen led with more than 52 percent of the vote compared to opponent Jennifer Plumb’s 47. Kitchen earned only about 500 more votes than Plumb—4,996-4,485—as mail-in ballots were still being counted Wednesday.
While Plumb hasn’t yet conceded, she told The Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday that she "would love to see the final results.”
Meanwhile, Kitchen gave his supporters a victory speech and said the “spread is pretty safe.”
The result sets the current councilman up to also fill outgoing Sen. Jim Dabakis’ shoes as the state’s only openly gay legislator. Dabakis endorsed Kitchen in early June. Kitchen is also one of the plaintiffs in the Kitchen v. Herbert case, which lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the state.
The nominee will face off against Republican candidate Chase Winder in November.
Other notable races: