Tight race expected for district attorney job

SALT LAKE CITY — The race for Salt Lake County district attorney looks a lot like the race four years ago. But a few things have changed, and there are some late-breaking developments.

Incumbent Lohra Miller and challenger Sim Gill are squaring off for the second time in what promises to be a tight race to the finish.

Miller now has four years in the role under her belt; Gill has plenty of questions about the incumbent's record in office.

A Deseret News/KSL-TV Dan Jones poll from 2006 had Miller besting Gill 41 percent to 38 percent just before Election Day, when she edged Gill with a 3 percent margin of the vote.

The roles have reversed this year, with the most recent poll favoring Gill 49 percent to Miller's 39 percent. The spread in both polls, though, fell within the margin of error. The most recent poll was conducted Oct. 25-28 and has a margin of error of 4.8 percent.

With 7 percent of active registered voters still undecided, according to results of the 451 respondents in poll results released Friday, Miller is hoping to regain ground now that electioneering accusations have been cleared. On Tuesday, the county released results from its investigation finding accusations Miller's campaign used county time and resources were "not substantive and did not warrant further action."

Miller called the accusations "a nasty, last-minute campaign tactic that was orchestrated by my opponent" and hopes voters will recognize it as such.

Based on the most recent numbers and the undecided voters in the mix, the race promises to be one of the tightest and more dramatic in the state this election year.

Both claim to have the experience and qualifications for the position. Miller points to the past four years, navigating the office through the ongoing recession.

"I not only have the experiences in managing the budget and leading the prosecution, but I have the civil experience working with the councils and mayors' offices and representing all the independent elective," Miller said. "I've been very successful in establishing the district attorney's office as a recognized, trusted source of legal information for the county, which it hasn't always been."

Gill, who is currently serving as the chief prosecutor for Salt Lake City, said he has a combination of practical, management and program-implementation experience. He has prosecuted both misdemeanor and felony cases and helped develop the state's first mental-health court.