Purple Reign 

• Benjamin Wood
• Election officials are working to count thousands of outstanding ballots from the 2022 midterms.

Both of Utah's major political parties have cause for celebration and concern after the 2022 midterm elections.

In Salt Lake County—one of the few politically competitive areas in the state—preliminary results show Democrats cracking the veto-proof Republican supermajority on the County Council and retaining the offices of District Attorney, Sheriff and Clerk.

But at the state level, Republicans appear poised to deepen their stranglehold of the Utah House, with two Democratic incumbents trailing their Republican challengers as of Friday morning. And incumbent U.S. Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, comfortably secured reelection to a third term against incumbent Evan McMullin, despite a cross-partisan backlash against Lee's participation in former president Donald Trump's baseless efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Election results will not be finalized until the official canvas on Nov. 22, and the county reportedly has tens of thousands of outstanding ballots remaining to be processed.

"We're obviously very excited about tonight's early returns, but there are a lot more ballots to be counted," Rep. Suzanne Harrison, D-Salt Lake City, posted after polls closed on Election Day. "We'll catch our breath and let the Clerk's Office do it's job."

• Courtesy Photo
• Rep. Suzanne Harrison currently leads in her race for an at-large seat on the Salt Lake County Council.

After the latest round of redistricting—which locked Democrats out of contention for Utah's congressional districts and inordinately disrupted Democrat-held seats at the state level—Harrison opted to run for an at-large seat on the Salt Lake County Council held by Republican incumbent Richard Snelgrove. On Friday, Harrison was leading in the race by a seemingly-comfortable 6 percentage points, a gap of more than 20,000 votes.

A win by Harrison would change the composition of the County Council from a 6-3 Republican majority—capable of overruling the vetoes of Democratic County Mayor Jenny Wilson—to a 5-4 split.

Democrat Lannie Chapman also appeared to retain the party's incumbency in the County Clerk's Office, which oversees elections. Her opponent, Republican Goud Maragani, struggled to strike a moderate tone after embracing election denialism in 2021, and continued to lob unsubstantiated allegations of impropriety against elections officials like his opponent—currently a deputy in the county office—into the final stages of the campaign. As of Friday, Maragani was trailing Chapman by 13 percentage points.

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• Salt Lake County Clerk-elect Lannie Chapman

The picture was gloomier for Democrats in the Utah House, where preliminary results show incumbent Reps. Elizabeth Weight and Clare Collard trailing their Republican challengers Quinn Kotter and Anthony Loubet, respectively. As of Friday, Kotter led Weight 52%-48%, and Loubet led Collard 51%-49%, but those leads translate to a difference of fewer than 300 votes and 200 votes, respectively, with potentially thousands outstanding.

The loss of of Weight and Collard would further contract the Legislature's minority caucus and exacerbate an already-stark divide between the political demographics of the Beehive State and that of its elected representatives.

The Utah Senate, however, will remain unchanged in its partisan composition, albeit with several new faces representing portions of Salt Lake County in the Democratic caucus. As of Friday, Rep. Stephanie Pitcher was leading in her Senate race with 62% of the vote, and two newcomers to the Legislature—Jennifer Plumb and Nate Blouin—had secured their victories with 99% and 70% of the vote, respectively.

• Courtesy Photo
• Sen.-elect Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake City

"I couldn't be happier with the results of Tuesday's election, and I'm so excited to get to work for the residents of Senate District 13 and for the State of Utah," Blouin said Friday. "Democrats outperformed expectations in Utah and across the nation, despite newly-drawn political boundaries that disenfranchise voters, and we'll continue working hard to mitigate the impacts of inflation, to address the climate crisis, and to protect popular democratic institutions in the face of extreme political rhetoric."

Statewide, roughly two-thirds of voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have expanded the power of the state Legislature to spend taxpayer dollars during a special legislative session. Voters previously approved an amendment that allows lawmakers to call themselves into session at any time—a power formerly reserved by the state's governor—but a push to loosen the proverbial purse strings during such a conclave was evidently a step too far for the Utah electorate.

But Salt Lake City voters embraced an $85 million bond that will fund improvements to parks and greenspace, and in particular will accelerate the development of a Glendale Regional Park at the former site of Raging Waters and the completion of the Folsom Trail.

Days after the election—and with the results far from finalized—state lawmakers met in their respective caucuses to select leadership teams. Republicans Brad Wilson and Stuart Adams will serve another term as House Speaker and Senate President, respectively, while Democrats opted to promote Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, to Senate Minority Leader.

"The trust and confidence of my fellow representatives is humbling,” Wilson said in a prepared statement. “I have never been more energized to serve or more focused on leading my colleagues as we address the challenges and opportunities of the coming years.”