With the Democratic National Convention securing Kamala Harris’ place atop the presidential ticket this week, Utah Democrats are fired up ahead of the election. Some even think, with some work, that Utah could be an election battleground in the future.
Salt Lake County Democratic Party Executive Director Nick Glenn said “there's a lot of excitement about the national scene” from Democrats in Chicago. And “there's also a lot of excitement about down-ballot races, about the fact that here in Utah, we can actually make change.”
A Utah Democrat has not won a statewide election since 1996 when the late Jan Graham was reelected as Attorney General. Ben McAdams was the last to win a congressional seat in 2018. He was later defeated by Republican Rep. Burgess Owens in 2020. Redistricting has since shifted the 4th Congressional District from a contested one to a solid GOP seat.
Where Democrats could make inroads in 2024, Glenn said, is in important down-ballot races for mayor and county council in purple Salt Lake County.
“We're going to win, and we're going to do well there. It's going to be good, but it's not going to be crazily different from the past two years.”
Simply put, Utah’s status as a reliable red state won’t be changing overnight. More than half of the state’s active registered voters are Republican, and recent trends have seen voters switching to becoming unaffiliated.
“We're going to start to win some of these races. We're going to start to have representation and actual voices for the people, and in four, six, eight years, [Utah will] be voting blue.”
Glenn’s analysis isn’t just wishful thinking.
Demographics in Utah seem to be moving in the Democrats’ direction. Gen Z voters have proven themselves to be some of the most progressive in the country and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in four Utah adults are between the ages of 18 and 29.
That demographic shift is something many candidates, like state representative and gubernatorial candidate Brian King, think a lot about.
“We've seen a marked feeling among the younger people in Utah, even members of the LDS Church, to move more in the direction of considering Democrats and views that more reflect their concerns and their values than we see from some of the older folks you know, who have been traditionally rather conservative.”
Utah Republicans are also courting those same voters and both parties have struggled to build a younger voting bloc. State GOP Chair Rob Axson has said it’s a big priority and they want to hear their voices and bring them to the table.
“If you're not engaging with the voters of tomorrow, then the message that you have and how your message can benefit their lives, there's a disconnect,” he said. “It's not being communicated.”
The question now is not just who young Utah voters will cast their ballots for, but how many of them will even vote.
When it comes to Democrats and this election cycle, King said the momentum Harris could bring could help motivate young Democrats to get out to the polls and push down-ballot candidates to victory.
“When you come out to vote and you feel favorably about people at the top of the ticket, you're going to be more inclined than you might otherwise to see people in the same party in a favorable light, even when you really don't know that much about them,” King said. “The coattail effect is real.”
Although statewide voting trends do not look to be in Democrats’ favor in 2024, there’s still hope that the enthusiasm drummed up by Harris, King and Senate candidate Caroline Gleich could be enough to deliver coveted local seats to Democratic candidates.
“We see there's a chance for real impact now to win the Salt Lake County council seats, to actually flip the Salt Lake County Council blue for the first time since 2008,” Glenn said.
“That's a real possibility. These races are extremely close.”
