Although the Democratic and Republican State Conventions resulted in surprisingly few upsets, some local Summit County residents made it through Saturday with enough delegates to continue to fight until the primary election in June.
Park City resident Donna McAleer, a Democrat, will continue to face-off against Ryan Combe for the District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. McAleer narrowly missed receiving 60 percent of the delegates’ votes and the ability to skip the primary election. The Democratic candidate that wins the primary election will face Republican incumbent Rob Bishop in the general election.
According to Summit County Democratic Chair Glenn Wright, McAleer was only two or three votes away from beating Combe.
“I am pleasantly surprised that she got as close as she did,” Wright said. “It was a lot closer than we anticipated going in and I think she will be a success in the primaries.”
Bishop overwhelmingly beat two other Republican candidates for the nomination, including Wanship resident Jacqueline Smith, by receiving 81 percent of the votes.
Summit County Republican Chair Henry Glasheen said Bishop’s nomination was a good example of incumbents receiving more support than “grass root candidates.”
“I am surprised that Bishop won by such a lopsided margin,” Glasheen said. “But this year, unlike in 2010, the Tea Party and other people weren’t banding together against the incumbents. In fact, this time around, I think that kind of support almost hurt the candidates.”
The only state-wide GOP primary will be between U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch and Dan Liljenquist. Glasheen estimated that only about 40 votes separated the two candidates at the convention.
Hatch’s campaign manager Dave Hansen told The Park Record that everyone was surprised at how well Hatch did but that he would have liked to garner one percent more votes in order to skip the primary.
“One year ago, everyone said Hatch was dead in the water,” Hansen said. “Even two months ago people were saying he couldn’t make it past the convention. But the simple fact is he did very well and the next step for us is an aggressive campaign for the next nine weeks.”
Hansen said Hatch does plan on doing some campaigning and fundraising in Summit County to make sure he continues to receive the area’s support but did not yet have any specific dates.
Democrat Scott Howell will run against Hatch or Liljenquist after defeating Democrats Bill Peterson and Pete Ashdown in the race for the U.S. Senate.
Wright called Howell “one of the stars of the show” on Saturday and said his presentation garnered the votes of all of the delegates who were on the fence.
First-time Republican Candidate John Zimmerman, from Hoystville, challenged incumbent Mel Brown (R-Coalville) for Utah House Seat 53 but only received 30 percent of the delegates’ votes, allowing Brown to go into the general election unopposed by a Democrat or Republican.
“Brown really deserved to win that one,” Glasheen said. “He has done so much for the school district and a lot of people in Summit County really like him.”
Utah Senator Allen Christensen (R-Ogden), who represents a portion of Summit County, received significantly more delegates’ votes than challenger Dan Deuel, an outcome that Glasheen said would have been different if Christensen had faced a candidate from Summit County. He will run against Democrat Peter Clemens in November.
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