Equality Utah-backed candidates win or lead in 36 of 41 races; all Republican endorsees lose

Results are unofficial. Counties will certify them after the Nov. 23 canvass.

Among the GOP losses in the nationwide “Blue Wave” are the four Republicans Equality Utah endorsed this year. Utah had the largest shift toward Democrats in the nation, about 30 percentage points since 2022. Utah Republicans lost 16 House seats and their supermajority in that chamber for the first time in around three decades.

Candidates endorsed by Equality Utah’s Political Action Committee won or led in 36 of the 41 races where the group made endorsements, according to unofficial results updated Tuesday.

All four Republican endorsees lost: Rep. Anthony Loubet, Chris McConnehey, Mike Bird and Nicole McDermott. Three lost to Democrats and one to an unaffiliated candidate. All 30 Democratic endorsees won or are currently leading in the unofficial results.

Eight of the 41 endorsees had no competitor on the ballot: Sen. Stephanie Pitcher, Rep. Stephen Otterstrom, Rep. Julie Jackson, Rep. Andrew Stoddard, Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman, State Board of Education member Sarah Reale, and school board members Andrew Edtl and Oscar Mata. Among the 33 contested races, endorsees won or are leading in 28.

Republican endorsees

• House District 27: Democrat Liz Oates received 6,762 votes (62.2%) to Loubet’s 4,117 (37.8%). Oates leads by 2,645 votes.
• House District 38: Unaffiliated candidate Sergio Sotelo received 6,045 votes (55.5%) to McConnehey’s 4,852 (44.5%).
• Salt Lake County Council District 3: Democrat Luke Maynes received 30,761 votes (58.4%) to Bird’s 21,871 (41.6%).
• State Board of Education District 8: Democrat Araueni Oliveres received 30,265 votes (53.3%) to McDermott’s 26,547 (46.7%).

The Oates and Maynes races drew the most criticism of Equality Utah’s endorsements. QSaltLake reported earlier that both won, and their margins have grown as more ballots were counted.

Buss trails in Senate District 11

Sen. Emily Buss, a Forward Party member who is friendly to the LGBTQ community, is trailing Republican Brooks Benson by 512 votes. Benson has 16,119 votes (50.8%) to her 15,607 (49.2%).

Gov. Spencer Cox chose Buss to fill the seat after Sen. Daniel Thatcher, who also supported LGBTQ rights, resigned. Thatcher left the Republican Party for the Forward Party in 2025 just before announcing his resignation. Buss leads in Salt Lake County with 55.3% of the vote. She trails in Tooele and Utah counties, which keeps Benson ahead overall.

Democratic endorsees

Many endorsed Democrats won by large margins. Sen. Jen Plumb received 84.5% of the vote in Senate District 9. Rep. Grant Miller received 89.6% in House District 24.

Several races were much closer, and four of them unseated Republican incumbents:

• Angela Choberka (HD 9) leads Rep. Jake Sawyer by 822 votes.
• Blake Townsend (HD 36) leads Rep. Jim Dunnigan by 928 votes.
• Drew Howells (HD 39) leads Rep. Ken Ivory by 1,959 votes.
• Michael Finch (HD 26) leads Rep. Matt MacPherson by 3,051 votes.

All of the ousted incumbents received F grades for Equal Rights from the Alliance for a Better Utah.

Unaffiliated candidate Patrick Belmont, also endorsed by the PAC, leads Republican incumbent Rep. Jason Thompson by 2,008 votes in House District 3. Celeste Johnson leads Republican Luke Searle by 322 votes in House District 59.

In Senate District 5, which covers parts of Davis, Morgan and Weber counties, Democrat CJ Hernandez leads Republican Jill Koford, 55.8% to 44.2%, a margin of 3,578 votes. No Democrat from outside Salt Lake County has served in the Utah Senate in at least two decades.

Equality Utah hasn’t yet commented on the individual outcomes of its endorsees, but did note voters’ rejection of Amendment B as a positive. They did thank anyone who made the progress possible.

“Let’s make these wins count. Whether you donated, volunteered, knocked on doors, talked with a neighbor, or cast your ballot: thank you,” chair Max Green wrote. “We’ll celebrate the wins, take an honest look at what we can do better, and keep showing up.”

Results for all 41 Equality Utah-endorsed candidates

Endorsee	Party	Race	Votes	Opponent	Opp. votes	Endorsee %	Status
CJ Hernandez	Democrat	Senate Dist. 5	17,198	Jill Koford (R)	13,620	55.8%	Leads
Jen Plumb	Democrat	Senate Dist. 9	32,938	Thaddeus A. Evans	4,918	84.5%	Leads
Emily Buss	Forward	Senate Dist. 11	15,607	Brooks Benson (R)	16,119	49.2%	Trails
Karen Kwan	Democrat	Senate Dist. 12	16,670	Diedre Tyler	7,817	68.1%	Leads
Silvia Catten	Democrat	Senate Dist. 13	25,340	Ryan L. Mahoney	6,223	77.1%	Leads
Stephanie Pitcher	Democrat	Senate Dist. 14	38,580	—	—	—	Unopposed
Patrick Belmont	Unaff.	House Dist. 3	6,576	Jason E. Thompson (R, inc.)	4,568	59.0%	Leads
Angela Choberka	Democrat	House Dist. 9	6,022	Jake Sawyer (inc.)	5,200	53.7%	Leads
Rosemary Lesser	Democrat	House Dist. 10	7,064	Jim Alvey	4,296	62.2%	Leads
Stephen Otterstrom	Democrat	House Dist. 21	8,367	—	—	—	Unopposed
Jen Dailey-Provost	Democrat	House Dist. 22	13,493	Char Varga	1,927	87.5%	Leads
Hoang Nguyen	Democrat	House Dist. 23	16,845	Franklin D. Robinson	3,350	81.3%	Leads
Grant Miller	Democrat	House Dist. 24	14,013	Braeden J. Oswald	1,620	89.6%	Leads
Angela Romero	Democrat	House Dist. 25	5,451	Richard T. Nowak	1,569	77.6%	Leads
Michael Finch	Democrat	House Dist. 26	6,682	Matt MacPherson (inc.)	3,631	64.8%	Leads
Anthony Loubet	Democrat	House Dist. 27	4,117	Liz Oates (D)	6,762	37.8%	Trails
Jake Fitisemanu	Democrat	House Dist. 30	6,918	Dave Parke	3,692	65.2%	Leads
Verona Mauga	Democrat	House Dist. 31	6,453	Melody Jones	2,776	69.9%	Leads
Sahara Hayes	Democrat	House Dist. 32	11,004	Aileen Hampton	2,420	82.0%	Leads
Doug Owens	Democrat	House Dist. 33	15,311	Anna Reeves	4,920	75.7%	Leads
Julie Jackson	Democrat	House Dist. 34	12,412	—	—	—	Unopposed
Blake Townsend	Democrat	House Dist. 36	7,502	Jim Dunnigan (inc.)	6,574	53.3%	Leads
Ashlee Matthews	Democrat	House Dist. 37	5,929	Casey Saxton	3,159	65.2%	Leads
Chris McConnehey	Republican	House Dist. 38	4,852	Sergio Sotelo (Unaff.)	6,045	44.5%	Trails
Drew Howells	Democrat	House Dist. 39	7,021	Ken Ivory (inc.)	5,062	58.1%	Leads
Andrew Stoddard	Democrat	House Dist. 40	9,139	—	—	—	Unopposed
John Arthur	Democrat	House Dist. 41	12,838	Darren Croft	6,583	66.1%	Leads
Celeste Johnson	Democrat	House Dist. 59	9,170	Luke Searle	8,848	50.9%	Leads
Jiro Johnson	Democrat	County Council Dist. 1	43,641	Casey Poe (L)	7,055	86.1%	Leads
Mike Bird	Democrat	County Council Dist. 3	21,871	Luke Maynes (D)	30,761	41.6%	Trails
Zach Robinson	Democrat	County Council At-Large	234,128	Kathleen Anderson	128,495	62.9%	Leads
Lannie Chapman	Democrat	SL County Clerk	289,796	—	—	—	Unopposed
Sim Gill	Democrat	SL County District Attorney	236,488	Kent Davis	134,491	63.7%	Leads
Rosie Rivera	Democrat	SL County Sheriff	252,397	Shane Manwaring	118,710	68.0%	Leads
Sarah Reale	Democrat	State Board of Ed. Dist. 5	39,257	—	—	—	Unopposed
Nicole McDermott	Republican	State Board of Ed. Dist. 8	26,547	Araueni Oliveres (D)	30,265	46.7%	Trails
Andrew Edtl	Nonpartisan	Canyons School Board Dist. 4	7,147	—	—	—	Unopposed
F. Masita Taufahema	Nonpartisan	Jordan School Board Dist. 7	5,859	Barbie Curtis	4,925	54.3%	Leads
Zach Thomas	Nonpartisan	Ogden School Board Dist. 6	884	Jamie Nunley	714	55.3%	Leads
Oscar Mata	Nonpartisan	Ogden School Board Dist. 7	1,347	—	—	—	Unopposed
Ashley Anderson	Nonpartisan	SLC School Board Dist. 3	7,056	Jared Wright	2,668	72.6%	Leads

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