Republican candidate Jill Koford and Democrat Rep. Rosemary Lesser. (Photos courtesy of Jill Koford and Utah House of Representatives)
Utah Democrats are poised to gain a new House seat in Salt Lake County, but lose a House seat in Weber County, with Ogden Democrat Rep. Rosemary Lesser trailing her Republican opponent Jill Koford by 205 votes.
The race for House District 10, which encompasses much of South Ogden east of Interstate 15, was one of the tightest in the state this year. Lesser took an early lead, but as updated results from Weber County continued to roll in, Koford closed the margin, overtaking the incumbent Thursday evening.
And although it’s still too early to definitively declare a winner — results in Weber County won’t be officially finalized until two weeks after election day — county clerk and auditor Ricky Hatch said the current tally probably won’t change much.
As of Friday afternoon, Koford had 7,578 votes, or 50.69%; Lesser had 7,373 votes, or 49.31%.
“I don’t see that margin shifting much at all, right now,” Hatch said on Friday. He told Utah News Dispatch that about 95% of ballots would be counted by the end of the day. Most of the outstanding ballots are provisional, meaning there are still outstanding questions about the ballot or voter’s eligibility.
That could mark the end of Lesser’s tenure in the House. An Air Force veteran and OB/GYN, Lesser joined the Legislature in 2021, selected by Utah Democrats after the death of her predecessor, Rep. LaWanna Shurtliff. Koford challenged Lesser the following election cycle in 2022, losing by about 500 votes.
“House District 10 has historically been a competitive district,” Lesser told Utah News Dispatch on Friday. “Making sure that every vote is counted is critical to this important process. I am patiently awaiting the count of the provisional ballots and the curing of 170 ballots.”
Koford, a lifelong Weber County resident and small business owner with a master’s degree in education, was cautiously optimistic Friday.
“We are very happy with the trend of the results, look forward to having every ballot counted and are optimistic,” Koford said in a text.
If the results stand, Utah Democrats will go into the 2025 General Legislative Session with the same number of House Representatives as last year, after Democrat Jake Fitisemanu, a two-term West Valley City Council member, appears to have flipped a Republican district in Salt Lake County.
Fitisemanu had nearly 52% of the vote Friday afternoon, holding onto a slim lead over his Republican challenger Fred Cox.
That means the current House makeup, which consists of 14 Democrats and 61 Republicans, will likely remain the same.
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