BOUNTIFUL — The Davis County Republican Party is experiencing two major changes by welcoming a new state senator and saying goodbye to its party chairman.
On Tuesday night, in a special election at South Davis Junior High School, county delegates elected Todd Weiler, former Utah Republican vice chairman, to replace Dan Liljenquist in the Utah Senate. Weiler will represent Senate District 23 as the outgoing Liljenquist turns his attention to his U.S. Senate campaign, challenging Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
“I’m excited to get to work,” said Weiler, 44, who won with 57.6 percent of the vote in the seventh round. “I recognize I have a lot to learn, and I just want to do my very best to represent the good people of south Davis County.”
Weiler will serve the fourth year of Liljenquist’s four-year term and said he plans to run for re-election in November.
Also Tuesday night, Rusty Cannon submitted his resignation as chairman of the Davis County Republican Party in order to accept the position of finance chairman for Liljenquist’s campaign.
“The upcoming election is an election of a lifetime and vitally important to getting our country back on the right track,” Cannon said. “I am putting all of my time and energy into making sure Dan Liljenquist is the next senator for Utah.”
Cannon said that knowing vice chairwoman Kris Kimball would take over has made his decision much easier.
Weiler, a vice president for Logistic Specialties Inc. in Layton, has previously served on the Woods Cross City Council, as chairman of the Davis County Republican Party and as chairman of the board for the Davis Chamber of Commerce.
The new state senator admits that coming into the legislative session, which begins Jan. 23, as a freshman is difficult. If he were going to run a major piece of legislation, he said, he would have had to file the bill two months ago.
Still, Weiler has priorities that he wants to work on when the session begins.
“We’ve got thousands of state-issued cellphones for employees who also have land lines, and both are paid for by citizens,” Weiler said. “They don’t need both. I think at the state level we ought to be looking at that.”
Weiler also wants to help get rid of the animosity between the state Legislature and state board of education.
“The victims here are our schoolchildren, and we need to put aside the petty differences and do what needs to be done to give the students the tools needed to be successful,” Weiler said.
Weiler said he is humbled by Tuesday night’s results and he wants to make sure the people who supported him are not disappointed.
Randy Shumway was the runner-up to Weiler with 42.4 percent of the vote.
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