Rep. Lesser wins election to Utah House post, lauds efforts of volunteers
-
- Rep. Rosemary Lesser
-
- Precinct 6 Weber school board hopeful Janis Christensen is seeking her third term.
OGDEN — Rep. Rosemary Lesser, who had already been leading in the District 10 Utah House race, has maintained her margin over GOP challenger Jill Koford with more ballots counted and has won election to the post, unofficial totals show.
Lesser, an anomaly as a Democratic legislator from outside Salt Lake County, maintained a reserved tone, lauding Koford and what she said was the civil tone of the race as well as the many backers and volunteers who aided her campaign.
“I think that it was a team effort. We really tried to meet voters at every single place in the district. We were on people’s doorsteps talking to them for several months,” Lesser said Tuesday. Koford, Lesser said, had sent her a congratulatory note, wishing her luck.
Lesser was appointed to the District 10 seat by fellow Democrats in 2021 to fill out the term of Rep. Lou Shurtliff after her untimely passing in late 2020. The results this cycle represent Lesser’s first electoral win.
According to the numbers in the District 10 race, updated Monday night, Lesser had 5,681 votes, 52.2% of the total, and Koford had 5,209, 47.8%. With just 1,756 votes countywide still to be processed as of Tuesday morning — inside of and outside of District 10 — Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch doesn’t see any way the race could flip. Across Weber County, by comparison, 76,861 votes had already been processed.
“My rough analysis shows that the legislative 10 race is statistically impossible to flip at this point,” Hatch said in a message to the Standard-Examiner. The District 10 contest generated more donations than any other in Weber County and was a big focus for both Democrats, hoping to hold the seat, and Republicans, hoping to take it over.
Similar to the District 10 race, Hatch said it would be “extraordinarily unusual” if the even closer race for the District 6 seat on the Weber school board flipped. According to the latest numbers, incumbent Janis Christensen leads challenger Heidi Gross 5,128 votes to 5,038, a 50.4%-49.6% margin. To turn things around, Hatch said, Gross would need 70% of the remaining ballots, an uphill proposition.
“I feel confident at this point that the numbers speak for themselves,” Christensen said Tuesday. She thinks her “conservative values” helped her edge Gross.
Vote totals must be canvassed by Nov. 22, when they are considered official and final.
‘KNOWN IN THE COMMUNITY’
Notably, Lesser’s current share of the votes in her race, 52.2%, slightly exceeds what Shurtliff mustered in 2020, 51%, and 2018, 52.1%.
What’s more, though District 10 is the most Democratic-leaning of Utah House districts in Weber County, GOPers still hold sway, according to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, a Princeton University-based entity that analyzes political districting across the country. According to its analysis, Republicans account for 55.65% of the vote share in District 10, which covers portions of Ogden, South Ogden, Washington Terrace and Riverdale, compared to 44.35% for Democrats.
Lesser downplayed the import of partisan politics in her effort, stressing her and her volunteers’ efforts to knock on doors. Many in the district said they had never before received a visit from a candidate, Lesser said, fostering a sense that their voices were being heard.
She also lauded Shurtliff’s representation and noted her own contacts in the community via her work as an obstetrician/gynecologist. “I think I was known in the community as someone who embraced the community without being attached to one label,” Lesser said.
A big cause for Lesser has been elimination of Utah’s state sales tax on groceries, which she sees as a particular burden for lower-income Utahns. She plans to pursue that when the 2023 legislative session starts in January.
Carly Cassidy, chairperson of the Weber County Democratic Party, expressed excitement over Lesser’s win.
“We’re excited that voters of District 10 reelected a Democrat with a track record of being responsive to all of her constituents, regardless of party,” Cassidy said.
