And earlier this session, the Senate defeated a bill sponsored by a member of the majority party, Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, that would have extended some health and property-related benefits to those who cannot legally marry.

Valentine said he met with McCoy before Monday's session and found him engaging.

"I was very encouraged by his desire to embrace a lot of issues," the Senate president said, adding he expects McCoy to be a successful senator.

McCoy hasn't always been a Democrat. According to the Salt Lake County Elections Office, he changed his party affiliation to Republican from unaffiliated in June 2004. He registered as a Democrat Jan. 27, according to the elections office.

McCoy had been previously registered as a Democrat for about five months in 2002, according to the elections office.

McCoy said he switched parties to vote in the Republican primary. He said he was unaware that his registration had changed from Democrat to unaffiliated.

"Here in this state, I've pretty much always been a Democrat," McCoy said, noting he had worked for the House Agriculture Committee, which was chaired by a Republican, for 4 1/2 years during the 1990s.

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Contributing: Deborah Bulkeley

E-mail: lisa@desnews.com