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Weber County voters have decisions to make as election season gears up

By Staff | Sep 21, 2022
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This combination photo shows the hopefuls for the contested Utah House seats serving Weber County. On the left are the District 10 hopefuls, incumbent Democrat Rosemary Lesser, top, and GOP challenger Jill Koford. In the middle are the District 9 hopefuls, Republican incumbent Cal Musselman, top, Democrat Neil Hansen, middle, and Libertarian Jacob Johnson. On the right are the District 8 hopefuls, Republican Jason Kyle, top, and Democrat Monica Hall.
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U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, left, and Evan McMullin, an independent who is challenging the incumbent in the race for the seat.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that Kelly Larson is the lone candidate for the Weber school board out of Precinct 1. Randy Allred has withdrawn from the race.

OGDEN — Election season is here and while it’s not as intense as a presidential year, Weber County voters have decisions to make.

The highest-visible race in Utah, perhaps, is the U.S. Senate contest, pitting incumbent Mike Lee, a Republican going for his third term, and independent Evan McMullin. The GOP dominates in Utah and while McMullin is conservative like Lee, he’s waging a scrappy effort to unseat the incumbent, focused in part on his concerns about “political extremism.” Lee puts a focus on his “love for the (U.S.) Constitution.”

Two others are also on the U.S. Senate ballot, Libertarian James Hansen and Tommy Williams, a member of the Independent American Party.

Ballots will be mailed to registered voters starting around Oct. 18, with voting culminating on Election Day, Nov. 8. Candidates are already pounding the pavement, working the phones and blasting out social media messages, and here’s a rundown of races for posts serving Weber County.

1st District U.S. House: Rep. Blake Moore, a Republican from Salt Lake City, is going for his second term, challenged by Rick Jones, a West Haven Democrat who’s run for office before but never won.

GOPers have a big edge in the 1st District, which stretches from Salt Lake City to Northern Utah, having beaten their Democratic counterparts by 30-plus percentage points in the last two elections. At the same time, Moore has a lopsided financial edge, with $524,391 in available campaign funding as of June 30 compared to no funds for Jones, according to the Federal Election Commission.

District 5 Utah Senate: Ann Millner, a Republican from Ogden, is seeking her third term in the Utah Senate, challenged by Democrat Michael Blodgett, also of Ogden.

District 5 was renumbered from District 18 with new boundaries as part of redistricting. It covers all or parts of Riverdale, South Ogden, Ogden, Washington Terrace and Uintah in Weber County, extending into parts of Morgan and Davis counties as well.

District 8 Utah House: Republican Jason Kyle of Huntsville and Democrat Monica Hall of Ogden face off for this seat covering part of Ogden’s East Bench, the Ogden Valley and a small part of Morgan County.

Whoever wins, a newcomer will represent the district. Steve Waldrip, a Republican from Eden, opted not to go for reelection after two terms.

District 9 Utah House: GOPer Cal Musselman of West Haven will be seeking his third term in the District 9 post, challenged by Democrat Neil Hansen of Ogden, a former Utah House member, and Libertarian Jacob Johnson of West Haven.

District 9 stretches from West Haven to east-central Ogden.

District 10 Utah House: This race, pitting Democrat Rosemary Lesser, an Ogden Democrat, and Jill Koford, an Ogden Republican, is getting a lot of focus by both Democrats and Republicans.

Lesser is the only Democrat serving in the Utah Legislature from outside of Salt Lake County and Democrats are hoping to keep her in office. She was tabbed by her fellow Democrats to serve in the seat in early 2021 after the death of Rep. Lou Shurtliff, a Democrat who had held the post.

At the same time, GOPers are hoping to oust Lesser and keep the Weber County legislative delegation all red. In a twist, Lorraine Brown, a GOPer who lost to Koford in the Republican primary for the seat, has endorsed Lesser.

District 10 covers southern Ogden, part of South Ogden, northern Riverdale and northern Washington Terrace.

The incumbents in three Utah House seats serving Weber County, all GOPers, are uncontested in general election voting. They are Matt Gwynn of Farr West in District 6, Ryan Wilcox of Ogden in District 7 and Mike Schultz of Hooper in District 12. Katy Hall of South Ogden, a Republican, is the sole hopeful in the District 11 Utah House race. She defeated incumbent Rep. Kelly Miles in the GOP primary and no one else is vying for the post.

District 2 Utah State School Board: Republican Joseph Kerry is running unopposed for the seat. Democrat Adi Finsen withdrew, according to the Weber County Elections Office website.

Kerry defeated Scott Hansen, the incumbent in the post, in the Weber County Republican Party convention last March. District 2 covers the bulk of Weber County, except for parts of Riverdale, Washington Terrace, South Ogden and Uintah, which are part of District 3.

Seat A Weber County Commission: Gage Froerer, the Republican incumbent, is seeking his second term in the commission post, challenged by Democrat John Thompson.

Seat B Weber County Commission: Republican Sharon Bolos, the former West Haven mayor, and Libertarian Brian Rowley are vying for the Seat B post.

Whoever wins in the race for Seat B, a newcomer will take over. Incumbent Scott Jensen, a Republican, isn’t running.

Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon is unopposed on the general election ballot in his bid for a second term and Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch is unopposed in his bid for a fourth term.

Ogden School District: Incumbent Douglas Barker and challenger Stacy Bernal are vying for the District 2 seat on the Ogden school board. Incumbent Amber Allred and Jeremy Shinoda are running for the District 4 seat.

Incumbent Joyce Wilson is the sole candidate for the District 7 seat.

Weber School District: Incumbent Janis Christensen and Heidi Gross are vying for the Precinct 6 seat on the Weber school board.

Incumbent school board members Jan Burrell in Precinct 2 and Bruce Jardine in Precinct 3 are not challenged. Kelly Larson is the sole hopeful in the Precinct 1 race after the withdrawal of Randy Allred.

Dean Oborn now holds the Precinct 1 seat but isn’t running for reelection.

The Ogden and Weber school board posts are nonpartisan.

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