Davis Demos look to change

FARMINGTON — The Davis County Democratic Party hopes to make some changes to the political landscape this year.

"We don't have one Democrat in office in Davis County," said Richard Watson, chairman of the Davis County Democrats.

At the county convention Saturday at Farmington Junior High School, Democrats united behind the rallying cry of former gubernatorial candidate Scott Matheson Jr., who blasted President Bush and his administration by using terms like "miserable," "failure" and "disaster."

"The political winds are changing," Matheson said.

Nearly every state legislative district in the county has a Democratic candidate, the exception being House District 13, currently held by Paul Ray, R-Clearfield. Nelda Angel, an aircraft mechanic at Hill Air Force Base who had filed to run against Ray, withdrew her candidacy March 26 after she learned federal employees are not allowed to run for partisan office.

The two candidates running for House District 20, which covers part of Salt Lake County, will go head to head in the state convention in May because they live in separate counties. Beth Holbrook, who lives in Davis County, is running against fellow party member Leslie Reynolds-Benns, a Salt Lake-area resident who was out of town and didn't come to either of the county conventions.

No other races in the county were contested by Democrats.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com