Some Utah County Republicans switching sides

PROVO — Linnea Barney, a two-term member of the State Board of Education and lifelong Republican, is running for the Utah Senate as a Democrat this year.

Barney said she turned to the Democrats when she attempted to get involved in local politics and found her moderate views weren't welcome in the conservative climate of the Utah County Republican Party.

"It wasn't long before I realized that the moderate, mainstream resident of Utah County didn't have a voice in the state Legislature," she said. "When the Democrats called me they convinced me that if they could field high-quality candidates, then they could make a difference in this county."

"Just because I call myself a Democrat, I haven't changed any of my family values," she said.

And Barney isn't the only one. After years of moribundity, the Utah County Democrats have fielded a respectable slate of respectable candidates for the second election in a row — many from the ranks of the GOP. And many are challenging some of the most powerful individuals in the Utah Legislature.

Barney, for example, is running against Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, who won with 68 percent of the vote in the 2008 election.

While most of the these candidates acknowledge they are fighting an uphill battle, all of them carry the same message: This is not your liberal uncle's Democratic party.

"The stereotypes about the national Democrats do not apply to Utah County Democrats," said Richard Davis, a BYU political science professor who is the architect of the party's attempted resurgence in one of the state's most conservative strongholds. "We are much more conservative, much more family oriented. That message got out in the last election, and we are repeating it this year."

To drive that message home, the party is holding a "Family First" Democratic Party rally Saturday, March 27, at 4 p.m. at Orem Jr. High School, 756 N. 600 West.

At the rally, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, Democratic candidate for governor, will share the stage with Karen Hyer, a BYU teacher challenging 3rd District Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Steve Baugh, former Alpine School District superintendent, who is making his second run for the Utah House of Representatives against staunch conservative Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem.