Election shows notable shift from GOP to Democrats in 4th Congressional District

MANTI—An analysis of returns from the 4th Congressional District (the contest between Mike Kennedy and Jonny Larsen for U.S. Congress) shows a notable shift from Republicans to Democrats.

In Sanpete County, as of Tuesday, all but about 300 votes were counted, said County Clerk Linda Christiansen. Kennedy, the incumbent Republican, had 75 percent of the vote while Larsen, the Democrat, had 18 percent. Minor party candidates got about 6 percent.

That was a change compared midterm elections in 2024 and 2022, when Burgess Owens, a Republican, got more than 80 percent of the votes, while the Democratic challenger got 11 and 12 percent, with minor-party candidates getting the rest.

In the 4th District as a whole, which includes parts of Salt Lake and Utah counties as well as several rural counties, Larsen had an even better showing. The final breakdown was Kennedy 54 percent, Larsen 39 percent, with minor party candidates getting 7 percent.

Larsen’s numbers in the district as a whole were several points better than percentages for Democratic challengers in 2022 and 2024.

In a post on social media two days after the election, Kennedy said, “I am determined to meet the challenges of the next two years head on. I will work with others when I can, stand firm when it counts, and never stop fighting for the people of Utah, and for our great country.”

Reached Tuesday, a week after the election, Larsen said of his campaign effort, “It was exhausting. Clearly it wasn’t the result any of us (in his campaign) wanted. (But) it showed us how much ground we can move.”

He said he had analyzed the vote, precinct by precinct. “There were precincts in Draper, Riverton, Herriman and Bluffdale where I got more than 60 percent of the vote,” he said. In the Herriman precinct, he got just under 70 percent.

He even won some Utah County districts, such as a district in Vineyard where he got 64 percent.

“I had so many Republicans reaching out, saying. ‘You’re the first time I will be voting for a Democrat,’” he said.

Larsen said his campaign was mostly self-funded. He said he had some videos that would have made great TV ads if he’d had the money to run them. Instead, he posted them on his campaign website.

Nevertheless, he declared, “I’m not giving up. I am running again.” In fact, he said he had already filed his declaration of candidacy for 2028 with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office.

Utah Legislature

In the contest for the Utah House of Representatives, Troy Shelley of Ephraim, a Republican, easily won a second term with 71 percent of the vote. But compared to past elections, Democrat Breanne Mashek had a respectable showing. She got 18.5 percent.

In 2024, Shelley was unopposed. In 2022, Steve Lund of Manti, running against Constitution Party candidate Russ Hatch, also of Manti, got more than 84 percent.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Shelley said rural Utah was the only place in Utah where there was no significant slippage from Republicans to Democrats.

He said he believes the political philosophy of rural Utah “is a prototype of what the state wants.” He said the outlook of rural Utah “seems to ring true to the state as a whole.’

Shelley said his top issue in the 2027 session is data centers—not stopping them but making sure they are properly regulated.

“My No. 1 goal is for the counties to take charge of data center regulation,” he said. That includes determining where data centers can locate, how large they should be and their use of water and power. He adds that water and power issues related to data centers have largely been resolved.

His greater concern is that in a few years, technology will change to where many data centers are obsolete and where, as in the dot.com bust, many of the centers go bankrupt. The main asset the centers have is the data stored in them. He fears creditors might pressure data center companies to turn over data, which could include personal data on citizens.

There might be a role for the state to pass legislation barring data centers from selling or relinquishing their data, he said.

Data center impact “is so far reaching,” he added. “We’ve got to address it both locally, statewide and nationally.

Another matter he plans to try to review and correct are programs that benefit developers and other special interests more than the people they are intended to help. He specifically mentioned the program that gives first-time home buyers $25,000 toward a home. Under current law, the home has to be a new build.

A better approach, he said, would be to require the first-time buyers to buy a home that’s at least 20 years old and make the money a loan, not a grant. That would stimulate the practice of starting at the bottom of the housing market and moving up as you built equity. It could help the owner of the 20-year-old home move up to a more expensive home, potentially a new build.

Local option sales tax for 911 center

On still another ballot issue, voter rejection of a local-option sales tax to pay for improvements to the county’s 911 emergency call center was a surprise to Sanpete County Commission Chairman Scott Bartholomew. The measure went down 57 to 42 percent, a difference of more than 1,200 votes.

There is a non-optional state mandate to make expensive upgrades to the 911 operation. “I have no idea what we’re going to do. That has yet to be discussed,” Bartholomew said. “I wish it had passed so we could have spread out the costs among more people” (including visitors who spend money in the county).

Amendment B

In contrast to the sales tax proposition, the vote on Amendment B, a state constitutional amendment that could have limited the use of citizen ballot initiatives, was very close.

In Sanpete County, Amendment B passed, 50.5 to 49.45, a difference of 87 votes.

At the state level, Republicans officials generally supported the amendment. A ballot initiative in 2018 led to creation of a bipartisan redistricting commission, which recommended keeping large portions of Salt Lake County in a single district.

In a roundabout way, and after a court decision, that initiative led to Democrat Ben McAdams being elected to Congress by 70 percent.

Despite Republican support for the amendment, as the campaign progressed, arguments were aired that the amendment would limit the ability of citizens to go to the ballot if their city council, county commission or state legislature was not meeting their needs. Those arguments turned the tide.

In the state as a whole, the amendment went down 61-39 percent.

Voter turnout

Voter turnout in Sanpete County came to 53%. In most places in the state and nation, that’s a pretty good percentage for a midterm election. Not in Sanpete.

In 2022, voter turnout was 68.7 percent. In 2018, 78.72 percent.

With ballots coming in at a slower pace than in the past, Linda Christiansen, county clerk, went on the radio and said, “Come on Sanpete County. Let’s do better.” From her perspective, the final turnout number was “really sad.”