A candidate can win a major office if he's not a faithful member of the LDS Church. "You just can't attack the church," Jones said. No Democrats did, Dunn said.

Workman's problems may have cost Republican Ellis Ivory the county mayorship and caused the defeat of GOP councilman-at-large Steve Harmsen. But the problems were isolated to county offices. Democratic state House and Senate members in the county didn't see a big voting bump.

Two legislative Republicans lost in the county: Sen. James Evans, R-Salt Lake, lost his west-side district, but it is a heavily Democratic area. And Rep. Chad Bennion, R-Murray, lost, but he barely held that seat two years ago.

Longtime Rep. Eli Anderson, D-Tremonton, also lost in a district that is more than 2-to-1 Republican.

The Utah House remains a 56-19 majority for Republicans. The Senate now becomes 21-8 for Republicans.

Democrats failed to gain the three Senate seats they sought, which would have put them over one-third and able to uphold a gubernatorial veto, kill a constitutional amendment or filibuster a bill.

"It's just very hard to win (a relatively unadvertised legislative seat) when the Republican president at the top of the ballot carries the state with 71 percent of the vote," Dunn said.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com