The convention's most famous delegate was 17-year-old Hannah Lockhart. The daughter of Utah Republican Party Chairman Stan Lockhart and Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, found herself embroiled in controversy last week when deGaston tried to have her delegate credentials revoked.

Hannah Lockhart graduated from the Utah County Academy of Sciences on Friday and is enrolled at Brigham Young University. She won election as a delegate from the precinct where she lives now, not the one where she lived at the time of that election, but she did so on the advice of Utah County Republican Chairwoman Marian Monnahan.

DeGaston filed a complaint but didn't pursue it at a hearing Friday afternoon, and Lockhart was seated. Lockhart plans to major in political science and chuckled at the idea that the whole experience might make a good term paper.

"It felt really good to be finally involved myself and to cast a vote and make a difference," she said, adding she was shocked and frustrated by the attention drawn to her case. "I know what I did was on the advice of people who knew what they were doing. I just tried to follow the rules."

Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork, also cruised to victory against Chance Williams, whose effort to question Morley's ethics drew only 18 percent of the vote in House District 66. Williams was warned not to discuss at a candidates' night event a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit seeking the return of $3 million Morley got from a hedge fund investment before it went sour.

Williams was again warned before his speech Saturday that "mudslinging" would bring an end to his time.

Williams responded by pointing out that candidates pledge when they file to criticize their opponents where they differ "without fear or favor."

Other winners, by highest vote percentage, were Rep. Kenneth Sumsion, House District 56; Rep. Craig Frank, House District 57; Rep. Chris Herrod, House District 62; and Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, House District 58.

Tilton owns Transition Power, which is seeking to build a $3 billion nuclear power plant in Utah while Tilton has been serving as vice chairman of an interim legislative committee considering legislation that would help utilities build nuclear power plants.

He didn't blame media coverage of that issue for his loss. Instead, Tilton said he may be a victim of voucher backlash. He voted in favor of school vouchers last year, when the Legislature approved a vouchers bill that later was rejected by Utah voters in a referendum. Many candidates this year, especially Democrats, are running in an attempt to oust voucher supporters.

"I think you'd find a lot of my constituents were very supportive of nuclear power," Tilton said. "I don't think it was a big issue. I think vouchers were a significant issue. The Nebo School District is the largest employer in my area."