Utah State Senate elections, 2018

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2018 Utah
Senate elections
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GeneralNovember 6, 2018
PrimaryJune 26, 2018
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Republicans maintained their supermajority in the 2018 elections for Utah State Senate, since, after the election, they controlled 23 seats to Democrats' six. Fifteen of 29 Senate seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans held 24 seats to Democrats' five.

The Republican Party maintained its trifecta in Utah in 2018 by holding its majorities in the state Senate and House. The governorship, held by Gary Herbert (R), was not up for election.

Because state senators in Utah serve four-year terms, winning candidates in this election served through 2022 and played a role in Utah's redistricting process. Congressional and state legislative district lines are drawn by the state legislature. Read more below.

The Utah State Senate was one of 87 state legislative chambers with elections in 2018. There are 99 chambers throughout the country.

Utah state senators serve staggered, four-year terms and half of the Senate is up for election every two years.

Democratic Party For more information about the Democratic primary, click here.
Republican Party For more information about the Republican primary, click here.

Post-election analysis

See also: State legislative elections, 2018

The Republican Party maintained supermajority status in both chambers of the Utah State Legislature in the 2018 election. In the state Senate, 15 out of 29 seats were up for election. The Republican Utah State Senate supermajority was reduced from 24-5 to 23-6. One Republican incumbent was defeated in the general election.

The Utah House of Representatives held elections for all 75 seats. The Republican supermajority in the House of Representatives was reduced from 61-13 to 58-17. One seat was vacant before the election. One Republican incumbent was defeated in the general election.

National background

On November 6, 2018, 87 of the nation's 99 state legislative chambers held regularly scheduled elections for 6,073 of 7,383 total seats, meaning that nearly 82 percent of all state legislative seats were up for election.

  • Entering the 2018 election, Democrats held 42.6 percent, Republicans held 56.8 percent, and independents and other parties held 0.6 percent of the seats up for regular election.
  • Following the 2018 election, Democrats held 47.3 percent, Republicans held 52.3 percent, and independents and other parties held 0.4 percent of the seats up for regular election.
  • A total of 469 incumbents were defeated over the course of the election cycle, with roughly one-third of them defeated in the primary.

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Candidates

See also: Statistics on state legislative candidates, 2018

General election candidates

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Write-in candidates
Grey.png Vance Hansen - District 2
Grey.png Monica Zoltanski - District 9

Primary election candidates

2018 Utah State Senate primary candidates
District Democratic Party

Democrat

Republican Party

Republican

Other
2 Derek Kitchen Approveda
Jennifer Plumb		 Chase Winder Approveda
3 Gene Davis (I) Approveda Marlin Baer
Jeremy Egan Approveda
4 Jani Iwamoto (I) Approveda Alan Monsen Approveda
5 Karen Mayne (I) Approveda Kimdyl Allen Approveda
8
(two-year term)		 Kathleen Riebe Approveda Brian Zehnder (I) Approveda
Jaren Davis		 John Jackson (United Utah) Approveda
9 No candidate Kirk Cullimore Approveda Alexander Castagno (United Utah) Approveda
11 Christian Burridge Approveda Dan McCay Approveda
12 Clare Collard Approveda Daniel W. Thatcher (I) Approveda Abrian Velarde (G) Approveda
15 No candidate Keith Grover Approveda Tommy Williams (Independent American) Approveda
Lee Houghton (United Utah) Approveda
17 Michael Keil Approveda Scott Sandall Approveda
Clark Davis
18 Jason Yu Approveda Ann Millner (I) Approveda Kevin Bryan (L) Approveda
21 Jake Penrod Approveda Jerry Stevenson (I) Approveda
22 No candidate Stuart Adams (I) Approveda
26 Pat Vaughn
Eileen Gallagher Approveda		 Ronald Winterton Approveda
Jack Rubin
Brian Gorum		 Cathy Callow-Heusser (United Utah) Approveda
28 Mark Chambers Approveda Evan Vickers (I) Approveda
Notes • An (I) denotes an incumbent.
• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our Elections Project.

Eliminated in convention

Last updated: May 1, 2018

  • Jessica Foard (D) - District 2
  • Tim Chambless (D) - District 2
  • Nadia Mahallati (D) - District 2
  • Shawn Robinson (D) - District 2
  • Kathie Allen (D) - District 8
  • Monica Zoltanski (D) - District 9
  • David Hart (R) - District 9
  • LaVar Christensen (R) - District 11
  • DeLaina Tonks (R) - District 11
  • Emily Ellsworth (R) - District 15
  • Alisa Ellis (R) - District 26

Margins of victory

See also: Margin of victory analysis for the 2018 state legislative elections

A margin of victory (MOV) analysis for the 2018 Utah State Senate races is presented in this section. MOV represents the percentage of total votes that separated the winner and the second-place finisher. For example, if the winner of a race received 47 percent of the vote and the second-place finisher received 45 percent of the vote, the MOV is 2 percent.

The table below presents the following figures for each party:

  • Elections won
  • Elections won by less than 10 percentage points
  • Elections won without opposition
  • Average margin of victory[1]
Utah State Senate: 2018 Margin of Victory Analysis
Party Elections won Elections won by less than 10% Unopposed elections Average margin of victory[1]
Democratic Party Democratic
5
0
0
35.8%
Republican Party Republican
10
1
1
39.4%
Grey.png Other
0
0
0
N/A
Total
15
1
1
37.6%



The margin of victory in each race is presented below. The list is sorted from the closest MOV to the largest (including unopposed races).

Utah State Senate: 2018 Margin of Victory by District
District Winning Party Losing Party Margin of Victory
Utah State Senate District 12
Ends.png Republican
Electiondot.png Democratic
5.2%
Utah State Senate District 8
Electiondot.png Democratic
Ends.png Republican
14.2%
Utah State Senate District 26
Ends.png Republican
Electiondot.png Democratic
27.8%
Utah State Senate District 9
Ends.png Republican
Grey.png United Utah Party
31.8%
Utah State Senate District 18
Ends.png Republican
Electiondot.png Democratic
33.9%
Utah State Senate District 4
Electiondot.png Democratic
Ends.png Republican
34.2%
Utah State Senate District 11
Ends.png Republican
Electiondot.png Democratic
35.5%
Utah State Senate District 5
Electiondot.png Democratic
Ends.png Republican
37.3%
Utah State Senate District 3
Electiondot.png Democratic
Ends.png Republican
40.1%
Utah State Senate District 21
Ends.png Republican
Electiondot.png Democratic
43.4%
Utah State Senate District 2
Electiondot.png Democratic
Ends.png Republican
53.3%
Utah State Senate District 17
Ends.png Republican
Electiondot.png Democratic
55.7%
Utah State Senate District 28
Ends.png Republican
Electiondot.png Democratic
58.3%
Utah State Senate District 15
Ends.png Republican
Grey.png United Utah Party
63.4%
Utah State Senate District 22
Ends.png Republican
None
Unopposed


Seats flipped

See also: State legislative seats that changed party control, 2018

The below map displays each seat in the Utah State Senate which changed partisan hands as a result of the 2018 elections, shaded according to the partisan affiliation of the winner in 2018. Hover over a shaded district for more information.

State legislative seats flipped in 2018, Utah State Senate
District Incumbent 2018 winner Direction of flip
Utah State Senate District 8 Republican Party Brian Zehnder Democratic Party Kathleen Riebe R to D

Incumbents retiring

Six incumbents did not run for re-election in 2018. Those incumbents were:

Name Party Office
Jim Dabakis Electiondot.png Democratic Senate District 2
Wayne Niederhauser Ends.png Republican Senate District 9
Howard Stephenson Ends.png Republican Senate District 11
Margaret Dayton Ends.png Republican Senate District 15
Peter Knudson Ends.png Republican Senate District 17
Kevin Van Tassell Ends.png Republican Senate District 26

Process to become a candidate

See also: Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Utah

DocumentIcon.jpg See statutes: Title 20, Chapter 9 of the Utah Election Code

Political party candidates

A political party candidate must first file a declaration of candidacy in person with either the Office of the Utah Lieutenant Governor or the county clerk in the candidate's county of residence. The filing period opens on January 2 of the year in which the regular general election is held. If January 2 is one a weekend, the filing period opens the first business day after January 2. The filing period ends on the fourth business day after the opening of the filing period.[2][3][4]

The candidate must provide a certified copy of the declaration of candidacy to the chair of the county or state political party of which the candidate is a member. The candidate must also file a fair campaign practices pledge with the Office of the Utah Lieutenant Governor. The candidate must provide a certified copy of the candidate's pledge to the chair of his or her county or state political party.[4]

A candidate must also pay a filing fee. The filing fee is $50 plus one-eighth of 1 percent of the total salary for the full term of the office that the candidate is seeking. A person who is unable to pay the filing fee may file a declaration of candidacy without payment of the filing fee upon a showing of "impecuniosity" (i.e., lacking sufficient funds) as evidenced by an affidavit of impecuniosity filed with the filing officer and, if requested by the filing officer, a financial statement filed at the time the affidavit is submitted.[4]

A political party candidate can be nominated via the convention process or the petition process. Conventions, and nominations made via convention, are conducted in accordance with political party bylaws. If a candidate opts to petition for ballot placement, he or she must collect signatures. Prior to doing so, the candidate must file a notice of intent to gather signatures with either the lieutenant governor's office of the county clerk in the candidate's county of residence (this form is distinct from the declaration of candidacy form noted above). Signature requirements vary according to the office being sought.[5]

Signature requirements
Office Signature requirement
Statewide offices (e.g., governor, United States Senator) 28,000
United States Representative 7,000
Utah State Senate 2,000
Utah House of Representatives 1,000

In order to sign a petition for a political party candidate, a voter must be allowed to vote in that party's primary election. A voter cannot sign more than one petition for the same office. Completed petitions must be submitted to either the lieutenant governor's office or the county clerk for candidates whose districts lie entirely within a single county. The filing deadline is two weeks prior to the party's nominating convention.[5]

Independent candidates

A candidate who does not wish to affiliate with a ballot-approved political party may appear on the general election ballot by submitting a petition and a certificate of nomination form. A candidate for the office of governor must submit a petition with the signatures of at least 1,000 registered Utah voters. A candidate for the United States Senate must submit a petition with the signatures of at least 1,000 registered Utah voters. A candidate for the United States House of Representatives must submit a petition with the signatures of at least 300 registered voters residing within the congressional district, or at least 5 percent of the registered voters residing within the congressional district, whichever is less. A candidate for the state legislature must submit a petition with the signatures of at least 300 registered voters residing within the political division, or at least 5 percent of the registered voters residing within the political division, whichever is less.[4][6]

The names on the petition must be verified by the appropriate county clerk(s). After the petition has been verified, a candidate for state office is required to file the same petition and a certificate of nomination with the Office of the Utah Lieutenant Governor. The filing period opens on January 2 of the year in which the regular general election is held. If January 2 is one a weekend, the filing period opens the first business day after January 2. The filing period ends on the fourth business day after the opening of the filing period.[7][4]

Write-in candidates

To become a valid write-in candidate for a state office, an individual must file a declaration of write-in candidacy no later than 60 days before the regular general election. A candidate for statewide offices must file the declaration in person with the Office of the Utah Lieutenant Governor. All other state office candidates may file the declaration in person either with the county clerk in their counties of residence or with the Office of the Utah Lieutenant Governor.[4]

Qualifications

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

To be eligible to serve in the Utah State Senate, a candidate must be:[8]

  • A U.S. citizen at the time of filing
  • 25 years old at the filing deadline time
  • A three-year resident of Utah at the filing deadline time
  • A resident for 6 months of the senate district from which elected at the filing deadline time
  • No person holding any public office of profit or trust under authority of the United States, or of this State, can be a member of the state senate, provided, that appointments in the State Militia, and the offices of notary public, justice of the peace, United States commissioner, and postmaster of the fourth class, shall not, within the meaning of this section, be considered offices of profit or trust.
  • A qualified voter. A qualified voter is someone who is:
* A U.S. citizen
* A resident of Utah for at least 30 days prior to the next election
* At least 18 years old by the next election
* His or her principal place of residence is in a specific voting precinct in Utah.

Salaries and per diem

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries
State legislative salaries, 2024[9]
SalaryPer diem
$293.55/legislative dayPer diem is reimbursed to state legislators when they submit receipts or turn in expense reports.

When sworn in

See also: When state legislators assume office after a general election

Utah legislators assume office the first day in January.[10][11]

Utah political history

See also: Partisan composition of state senates and State government trifectas

Party control

2018

In the 2018 elections, the Republicans majority in the Utah State Senate was reduced from 24-5 to 23-6.

Utah State Senate
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 5 6
     Republican Party 24 23
Total 29 29

2016

In the 2016 elections, Republicans increased their majority in the Utah State Senate from 23-5-1 to 24-5. The seat gained by Republicans was previously held by a Libertarian senator.

Utah State Senate
Party As of November 7, 2016 After November 8, 2016
     Democratic Party 5 5
     Republican Party 23 24
     Libertarian Party 1 0
Total 29 29

Trifectas

A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government. Looking back to 1992, Republicans in Utah maintained a state government trifecta in every year.

Utah Party Control: 1992-2024
No Democratic trifectas  •  Thirty-three years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Governor R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
Senate R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Wave election analysis

See also: Wave elections (1918-2016)

The term wave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makes significant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?

Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from President Woodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 to Donald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016. We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.

Applying this definition to state legislative elections, we found that Republicans needed to lose 494 seats for 2018 to qualify as a wave election.

The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 10 state legislative waves from 1918 to 2016. Click here to read the full report.

State legislative wave elections
Year President Party Election type State legislative seats change Elections analyzed[12]
1932 Hoover R Presidential -1,022 7,365
1922 Harding R First midterm -907 6,907
1966 Johnson D First midterm[13] -782 7,561
1938 Roosevelt D Second midterm -769 7,179
1958 Eisenhower R Second midterm -702 7,627
2010 Obama D First midterm -702 7,306
1974 Ford R Second midterm[14] -695 7,481
1920 Wilson D Presidential -654 6,835
1930 Hoover R Presidential -640 7,361
1954 Eisenhower R First midterm -494 7,513

Competitiveness

Every year, Ballotpedia uses official candidate lists from each state to examine the competitiveness of every state legislative race in the country. Nationally, there has been a steady decline in electoral competitiveness since 2010. Most notable is that the number of districts with general election competition has dropped by more than 10 percent.

Results from 2016

Click here to read the full study »


Historical context

See also: Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections: 1972-2014

Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.

F5 Pop. % with uncontested state legislative races.png

Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.

Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.

Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.

Redistricting in Utah

See also: Redistricting in Utah

Because state senators in Utah serve four-year terms, winning candidates in this election served through 2022 and played a role in Utah's redistricting process. In Utah, congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by the state legislature.

State legislature districts in the 2010-2012 redistricting process

On October 4, 2011, the state legislature approved new state Senate and House district maps. The House maps were signed into law on October 19, 2011. The Senate maps were signed into law the following day. On January 27, 2012, the legislature passed amendments to these boundaries, which were signed into law on January 30, 2012.[15]

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in Utah. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Utah with 45.5 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 27.5 percent. Independent candidate and Utah native Evan McMullin received 21.5 percent of the vote, his strongest showing in a state. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Utah cast votes for the winning presidential candidate 76.7 percent of the time. In that same time frame, Utah supported Republican candidates more often than Democrats, 73.3 to 23.3 percent. The state favored Republicans in every presidential election between 2000 and 2016.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state Senate districts in Utah. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[16][17]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won two out of 29 state Senate districts in Utah with an average margin of victory of 20 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won six out of 29 state Senate districts in Utah with an average margin of victory of 25.9 points. Clinton won one district controlled by a Republican heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 27 out of 29 state Senate districts in Utah with an average margin of victory of 52.7 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 23 out of 29 state Senate districts in Utah with an average margin of victory of 28.9 points.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Excludes unopposed elections
  2. ↑ Utah Legislature, "SB1070," accessed April 12, 2022
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named sb54FAQ
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Utah Code, "Title 20, Chapter 9," accessed June 17, 2015
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Office of the Utah Lieutenant Governor, "State of Utah 2018 Candidate Manual," accessed October 19, 2017
  6. ↑ Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office, "Becoming a Federal Candidate," accessed March 12, 2014
  7. ↑ Utah Legislature, "SB1070," accessed April 12, 2022
  8. ↑ Utah Secretary of State, "Becoming a State Candidate," accessed December 18, 2013
  9. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
  10. ↑ Utah Constitution, "Article VI, Section 3," accessed February 17, 2021
  11. ↑ Utah Constitution, "Article VI, Section 4," accessed February 17, 2021
  12. ↑ The number of state legislative seats available for analysis varied, with as many as 7,795 and as few as 6,835.
  13. ↑ Lyndon Johnson's (D) first term began in November 1963 after the death of President John F. Kennedy (D), who was first elected in 1960. Before Johnson had his first midterm in 1966, he was re-elected president in 1964.
  14. ↑ Gerald Ford's (R) first term began in August 1974 following the resignation of President Richard Nixon (R), who was first elected in 1968 and was re-elected in 1972. Because Ford only served for two full months before facing the electorate, this election is classified as Nixon's second midterm.
  15. ↑ All About Redistricting, "Utah," accessed May 4, 2015
  16. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
  17. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017


Current members of the Utah State Senate
Leadership
Majority Leader:Evan Vickers
Minority Leader:Luz Escamilla
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
Dan McCay (R)
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
Don Ipson (R)
Republican Party (23)
Democratic Party (6)


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