Republicans also lost their majority on the Salt Lake County Council.

With those defeats in Salt Lake County, one can now officially say that Democrats are the majority party in the state's largest metropolitan area.

This is clearly an embarrassment for Utah Republicans.

Now, don't get me wrong. Republicans are by far the majority party here.

And Republicans are still the majority party in Idaho, too.

But as Republicans wrestle with their minority status in national politics, Utah and Idaho have the rather odd distinction of being the only majority GOP states outside of the South. It's kind of like the South joins the Mormons in politics.

The new GOP chairman here has a lot of work to do — rebuilding the party in Salt Lake County, healing some breaks with the local media and certainly trying to keep a number of moderate Republican officeholders in the party active and somewhat happy.

The internal split caused by the 2007 citizen referendum on private-school vouchers still simmers in the Utah Legislature — made even worse by bitter ethics charges in the House last summer.

Hansen or Harmsen (or whomever is the new chairman) has to renew trust with many Utahns, especially along the Wasatch Front, as minor scandals rocked county Republican organizations in 2008, too.

All this for a job that doesn't even pay anything.

Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com.