Utah 2010 legislative election results

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2010 Legislative Election Results

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Utah State Senate Election Results

This page contains macro-level election results and analysis for the Utah State Senate. For results in individual contests see our Utah State Senate elections, 2010 page. The following is a breakdown of the state senate before and after the election:

Utah State Senate
Party As of November 1, 2010 After the 2010 Election
     Democratic Party 8 7
     Republican Party 21 22
Total 29 29


What You'll See on This Page

This page displays the following lists of candidates

  • Incumbents who ran on November 2
  • Incumbents who were defeated
  • Challengers who defeated an incumbent
  • Newly elected senators
  • List of all winners
  • Unopposed candidates
  • Third party candidates

State Senate Overview:

  • There were 14 incumbents who ran in the November 2 general election. 1 incumbent lost, and thus 13 incumbents were re-elected to the Utah State Senate.
  • There will be 2 new senators sworn-in, 0 Democratic candidates and 2 Republicans.
  • Of the 15 seats up for election, 5 were won by Democrats and 10 by Republicans.
  • Only 3 candidates ran as an independent or third party candidate in the general election.

Incumbency Analysis

Of the 1,167 state senate seats up for election in 2010, incumbents ran for 894 (76.6%) of them. Of these 894, 94 lost their re-election bids, 89 Democrats and 5 Republicans. In Utah, 1 incumbent senator did not run for re-election on the November 2 ballot, while 14 incumbents (93.3%) ran for re-election. There was 1 incumbent defeated, Brent Goodfellow (D).

Incumbents who ran on November 2

Gene Davis, first elected to the Utah State Senate in 1988. Davis won re-election in 2010.

The following is a list of all of the incumbents who ran on the November 2 general election ballot:

Incumbents defeated

Brent Goodfellow, first elected to the Utah State Senate in 2006. Goodfellow was defeated in his re-election bid in 2010.

The following is a list of incumbents defeated on November 2:

CandidatePartyDistrict
Brent Goodfellow

Challengers who beat an incumbent

The following is a list of challengers who defeated an incumbent on November 2:

CandidatePartyDistrict
Daniel W. Thatcher

New State Senators and General Election Winners

388 new senators were elected across the country. This includes challengers who defeated incumbents as well as candidates who won open seats. Of these 388, 278 were Republicans and 110 were Democrats. In Utah, 1 new senator will be sworn-in, Democratic candidate Jose R. Rodriguez. In total, Utah elected 16 senators, 11 Republicans and 5 Democrats.

Newly elected senators

The following is the newly-elected members of the Utah State Senate:

Democratic

No new Democratic candidates won election.

Republican

Open Seat Winners

The following is a list of candidates who won election in seats where no incumbent was running:

Democratic

No Democratic candidates won an open seat.

Republican

Candidates who won election

The following is a list of all candidates elected to the Utah State Senate:

Democratic

Kevin Van Tassell was first elected to the senate in 2006. He was re-elected in 2010.

Republican

Competitiveness

Dennis Stowell was the only unopposed Republican senate candidate in 2010. He was first elected in 2006.

Across the nation, 1,167 state senate seats were up for election in 2010. 1,143 of those seats were partisan seats (24 seats were up for election in Nebraska's nonpartisan unicameral legislature). In 320 (28.0%) of these state senate contests, there was a major party candidate with no major party opposition. In Utah, 12 candidates (24.0% of seats) faced no major party opposition. Of these 12, 1 was a Democrat and 11 were Republicans.

Unopposed candidates in general election

The following candidates did not face major party competition:

Democratic

All Democratic candidates faced a Republican opponent.

Republican

Ballot Access

Across the nation, 140 independent or third party candidates ran for state senate. In Utah, 3 (9.1%) of the 33 senate candidates ran as an independent or third party candidate. None won election in the November 2 general election.

Third party candidates

The following is a list of third party and independent candidates who ran in 2010:

House

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2010 Legislative Election Results

State-by-State Analysis
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Other 2010 Election information
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Utah State House Election Results

This page contains macro-level election results and analysis for the Utah House of Representatives. For results in individual contests, see our Utah House of Representatives elections, 2010. The following is a breakdown of the state house before and after the election:

Utah House of Representatives
Party As of November 1, 2010 After the 2010 Election
     Democratic Party 22 16
     Republican Party 53 59
Total 75 75


What You'll See on This Page

This page displays the following lists of candidates

  • Incumbents who ran on November 2
  • Incumbents who were defeated
  • Challengers who defeated an incumbent
  • Newly elected senators
  • List of all winners
  • Unopposed candidates
  • Third party candidates

State House Overview:

  • There were 68 incumbents who ran in the November 2 general election. Only 6 incumbents lost, and thus 62 incumbents were re-elected to the Utah House of Representatives.
  • No Republican incumbents lost in the general election, while 6 incumbent Democratic incumbent lost.
  • There will be 13 new representatives sworn-in. Of those 13, 2 are Democrats and 11 are Republicans
  • Of the 75 seats up for election, 17 were won by Democrats and 58 by Republicans.
  • 18 candidates were unopposed, 0 Democrats and 18 Republicans.
  • Only 25 candidates ran as an independent or third party candidate in the general election.

Incumbency Analysis

Of the 4,958 state house seats up for election, incumbents ran in the general election for 4,091 (79.5%) of them. Of these 4,091 incumbents, 413 lost their re-election bids, 403 Democrats and 10 Republicans. In Utah, 68 (82.7%) incumbents ran for re-election. Of these 68, 6 incumbent representatives were defeated. All 6 incumbents were Democrats.

Incumbents who ran on November 2

The following is a list of all of the incumbents who ran on the November 2 general election ballot:

Brad Last (R) was first elected to the house in 2002. He was re-elected in 2010.

Incumbents defeated

James Gowans was first elected to the house in 1992. He was defeated by Douglas Sagers (R) in the general election.
Laura Black was first elected to the house in 2008. She was defeated by Steven Eliason (R) in the general election.

The following is a list of incumbents defeated on November 2:

CandidatePartyDistrict
Neil Hansen
James Gowans
Laura Black (Utah)
Trisha Beck
F. Jay Seegmiller

Challengers who beat an incumbent

The following is a list of challengers who defeated an incumbent on November 2:

CandidatePartyDistrict
Jeremy Peterson (Utah)
Douglas Sagers
Steven Eliason
LaVar Christensen
Derek Brown (Utah)

New Representatives and General Election Winners

1,345 new representatives were elected across the country. This includes challengers who defeated incumbents as well as candidates who won open seats. Of these 1,345, 988 were Republicans and 357 were Democrats. In Utah, 13 new representatives will be sworn-in. Of those 13, 2 are Democrats and 11 are Republicans. In the 7 open seat contests, Republicans won 5 and Democrats 2. In total, Utah elected 75 representatives, 58 Republicans and 17 Democrats.

Curt Webb was first elected to the house in 2006. He won re-election in 2010.

Newly elected representatives

The following are the newly-elected members of the Utah House of Representatives:

Democratic

Republican

Open Seat Winners

The following is a list of candidates who won election in seats where no incumbent was running:

Democratic

Republican

Candidates who won election

The following is a list of all candidates elected to the Utah House of Representatives:

Democratic

Larry Wiley was first elected to the house in 2005. He won re-election in 2010.

Republican

Julie Fisher was first elected to the house in 2004. She won re-election in 2010.

Competitiveness

Across the nation, 4,958 state house seats were up for election in 2010. In 1,680 (33.9%) of these state house contests, there was a major party candidate with no major party opposition. In Utah, 18 candidates (24.0% of all seats) faced no major party opposition. Of these 18, 0 were Democrats and 18 were Republicans.

Unopposed candidates in general election

The following candidates did not face major party competition:

Democratic

No Democratic candidates were unopposed in the general election.

Republican

Ballot Access

In Utah, 25 (15.8%) of the 158 house candidates ran as independent or third party candidates.

Third party candidates

The following is a list of third party and independent candidates who ran in 2010:

National Partisan Trends

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2010 Legislative Election Results

State-by-State Analysis
AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Other 2010 Election information
State legislative election resultsStatewide elections, 2010State Senate electionsState House elections

National Partisan Trends

The following tables detail the partisan breakdown of national election results. These results provide context for Republican gains in Utah.

Incumbents who were defeated in the general election

Across the nation, only 15 Republican incumbents were defeated while 492 Democratic incumbents were defeated. In total, 507 (10.4%) of the 4,872 incumbents running in the general election were defeated. The following is a breakdown of incumbent defeats in the 2010 general election:

The following is the breakdown of incumbents who lost.

Incumbents defeated in 2010 legislative elections
Party Senate House Total
Democratic 89 403 492
Republican 5 10 15
TOTALS 94 413 507

Total new legislators elected

In total, 1,733 (28.3%) new legislators were elected in 2010. Of these 1,733, 1,266 (73.1%) are Republicans and 467 (26.9%) are Democrats.

The following is the breakdown of new legislators.

New Legislators after the 2010 legislative elections
Party Senate House Total
Democratic 110 357 467
Republican 278 988 1,266
TOTALS 388 1,345 1,733

Winners of Open Seats

Open seats contests made up 1,178 (19.2%) of the 6,125 seats on November 2. Of these 1,178 open seats, Republicans won 729 (61.9%) while Democrats won 449 (38.1%). Going into the election, the number of open seats formerly held by each party was quite similar. Estimates prior to the election suggest that approximately 52% of the open seats were previously held by Republicans and 48% were held by Democrats.

The following is the breakdown of open seat winners.

Open Seat Winners in 2010 legislative elections
Party Senate House Total
Democratic 108 341 449
Republican 191 538 729
TOTALS 299 879 1,178

Impact on legislative majorities

See also: Partisan balance of state legislatures

Heading into the November 2 elections, the Democratic Party held a commanding lead in state houses in the 88 legislative chambers that held elections in 2010. 52 of the 88 chambers, or nearly 60% of them, had a Democratic majority, while only 33 of them had a Republican majority. (Two chambers had an exactly equal number of Democrats and Republicans and one is officially nonpartisan.) The following is a partisan breakdown of state legislatures prior to the November 2 election:

Partisan breakdown before the November 2010 Election
Legislative chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Purple.png Grey.png
State senates 23 18 1 1
State houses 29 15 1 -
Totals: 52 33 2 1

As a result of the election, Republicans picked up 20 legislative chambers while Democrats lost 20. Republicans won 53 total chambers on November 2, while Democrats won only 32. The following is a partisan breakdown of state legislatures after the November 2 election:

Partisan breakdown after the November 2010 Election
Legislative chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Purple.png Grey.png
State senates 16 25 1 1
State houses 16 28 1 0
Totals: 32 53 2 1

Another way to examine the data is to gauge how many chambers had gains for the Democratic Party versus the Republican Party. Using this variable, the wide-sweeping Republican victory is further amplified. Democrats bolstered their majorities in only 7 of 88 (7.96%) state chambers. These legislatures are as follows:

State legislative chambers where Democrats gained seats on November 2
State Chamber Number of seats gained by Democrats
California Assembly + 2
Delaware House + 2
Hawaii Senate + 1
Maryland Senate + 2
Massachusetts Senate + 1
Missouri Senate + 1
West Virginia Senate + 1

In 7 chambers, the GOP kept their current number of seats. In one chamber, the California State Assembly, both major parties gained seats by filling 2 vacancies and defeating an incumbent independent. Overall, the Republican Party picked up legislative seats in 75 (85.2%) of the 88 legislative chambers that held elections on November 2.

Impact on State Politics

Along with the GOP capture of the U.S. House of Representatives, state Republicans gained trifectas (control of the governorship, house, and senate) in 12 states. The following is a breakdown of trifectas across the nation, before and after the 2010 election:

Trifectas before and after the 2010 Election
Party Before election U.S. House seats After election U.S. House seats Gain/loss states Gain/loss congressional seats
Democratic
16 131 11 115 -5 -16
Republican
8 66 20 198 +12 +132

Before the election, 131 U.S House seats were in states with Democratic trifectas, while 66 districts were in states with Republican trifectas. After the election, Republicans trifectas control redistricting for 198 U.S. House seats while Democrats control only 115. Additionally, California, the strongest Democratic trifecta with 53 U.S. House representatives, passed propositions that take redistricting power away from state government.

Utah