Salt Lake County sort of blue; all else is red, red, red

Is Utah, politically speaking, becoming two places — Salt Lake County and the rest of the state?

Tuesday's election showed gains for Democrats in Salt Lake County. But outside of the county there were defeats for Democrats in previously held legislative seats and large Republican victories.

"We are now officially the minority party in Salt Lake County," said Todd Weiler, state GOP vice chairman, on Wednesday. "It is a troubling trend, a concern."

Wayne Holland, state Democratic Party chairman, says his three-cycle, six-year plan to "make Salt Lake County more Democratic" is showing signs of success. "It is working, although not as quickly as I'd hoped," Holland said Wednesday, a day after Democrats did well in the state's largest population center.

"We won two (state House) races where the candidates ran for the third time — like we had asked of them. We lost a few who ran for the second time — but we hope to pick those up" in 2010, Holland added.

"We haven't given up on the rest of the state. But we certainly had some losses" outside of the county, Holland said. "We start in Salt Lake County, win more there, and expand, we hope."

Added Weiler: "We are licking our wounds there, where we may be down, but we're not out." For all the money Utah Democrats "threw" at races in Salt Lake County this year, "they have very little to show for it — a wash in the state Senate and two (more) seats in the House — on a statewide basis."

Republicans are still the majority party in the state. And considering the enthusiasm around Barack Obama, "We've weathered this storm very, very well. We'll work hard to reverse our losses" in Salt Lake County, Weiler added.

Tuesday's voting results show:

Inside Salt Lake County Democrats rule (mostly).

• Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon won a landslide re-election victory, 66-22 percent. Democratic Councilman Randy Horiuchi won countywide re-election, and newcomer Democrat Jani Iwamoto unseated GOP incumbent Councilman Mark Crockett in the eastside Council District 4. That means the County Council is now controlled by Democrats, 5-4.

With Corroon and a new council majority, Democrats take the helm of county government for the first time in 15 years.

• Democrats made gains in state House and Senate seats in the county. They picked up three House seats and a key Senate seat, all on the county's east side. There are now 19 House Democrats from the county, compared to just 11 GOP representatives. And Democrats control the county's state Senate seats, 8-4.

• U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson's 2nd Congressional District, by population, is mostly in Salt Lake County. And the popular conservative Democrat took an impressive 71 percent of the vote in the county. (Matheson beat Republican Bill Dew, 63-35 percent, in the whole 2nd District, which includes counties to the east, south and southwest, including Washington and Iron counties.)

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