GOP caucus fills empty legislative seats

EPHRAIM — Delegates in Sanpete and Juab counties elected new representatives to the Utah House and Senate at a Republican caucus on Saturday at Snow College, held to fill seats emptied by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s recent Cabinet appointments.

One hundred and thirty-two delegates from central Utah and Tooele County gathered to elect someone to fill the District 24 Senate seat, formerly occupied by Leonard Blackham of Sanpete County, and the District 68 House seat, formerly occupied by Michael Styler of Delta.

Huntsman tapped Blackham to head the Department of Agriculture, and Styler was named director for the Division of Natural Resources.

The Senate seat, whose district includes Juab, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier, Wayne and part of Tooele County, was won by Darin Peterson of Nephi, who formerly occupied the House seat for District 67. That district contains small portions of Utah, Carbon, Juab and Sanpete counties. In a speech to delegates, Peterson said that as a Utah House member, he has made friends and built a reputation for honesty and integrity that would carry over into his position in the Senate.

"I have capital," he said, adding, "I'm going to spend that capital on you."

Peterson won by 11 votes, 64-53, over runner-up Eddie Cox, CEO of Central Utah Telephone in Fairview and former Sanpete County Commissioner. District 70 Rep. Bradley Johnson of Aurora and Dan Jorgensen of Sevier County also were vying for the seat. Johnson received 27 votes and Jorgensen tallied five.

Peterson ran a close race against the incumbent Blackham for the District 24 Senate seat during the primary elections in June, which required a count of provisional and absentee ballots before the result was determined. Peterson used much of that momentum to take the seat at the caucus.

House District 68, which is made up of portions of Sanpete, Millard and Juab counties, was won by Snow College Vice President Rick Wheeler of Ephraim. Wheeler told the assembly that the most important role of government is to protect individual rights. "The most important thing your legislators will do is protect your rural values," he said.

Wheeler won by 11 votes over Mary Greathouse of Millard County. Other hopefuls for the seat included Robert Bessey of Manti, Kirk Crosby of Delta and Warren Peterson of Delta, who withdrew from the race at the last minute.

Bill Fagergren, political director with the Utah Republican Party, reported that turnout for the caucus was good and that "there's been pretty high interest" in the replacements.