But the top Republican in the Utah House clung to his seat by his fingertips.
In the biggest surprise of the 2006 election, Republican House Speaker Greg Curtis barely hung on to his seat representing Sandy with about 40 votes, according to unofficial returns. A recount is expected.
"I have been predicting it would be close all along," Curtis said. "I just didn't know it would be quite this close."
Curtis was not alone. A handful of Salt Lake County incumbents were in tight races, but most pulled it out, according to unofficial results. The exceptions were: Democratic Rep. Carl Duckworth and Republican Rep. Susan Lawrence. Both lost their seats to challengers. Democratic challenger Phil Riesen edged out Republican Rep. Susan Lawrence for the chance to represent East Millcreek and Canyon Rim. Magna Democratic Rep. Carl Duckworth lost to Republican challenger Deena Ely, in a race within the margin of a recount. Sandy GOP Rep. Mark Walker won by 36 votes. And in Ogden, Police Chief Jon Greiner, a Republican, beat out Democrat Stuart Reid.
This election, voters picked from a slate of new candidates as lawmakers retired, ran for other offices or were ousted in conventions and primary elections earlier in the year. One-fourth of legislators will be new. Nevertheless, the election amounts to a shuffling of chairs, according to observers. Republicans will maintain their overwhelming dominance on Capitol Hill. Going into Tuesday's election, the GOP controlled nearly three-fourths of the seats in the Legislature - 56 of 75 House seats and 21 of 29 Senate seats. Tuesday's results did not shift the partisan balance at all.
"It's a tough year to be a Republican. I'm just happy that we were able to hold our own here," said Jeff Hartley, GOP Director.
While some longtime lawmakers will be gone, a few familiar faces are back. Former House Speaker Mel Brown will re-enter the Legislature after leaving six years ago in the wake of an ethics scandal. And former House Majority Leader Kevin Garn will rejoin his colleagues four years after leaving.
Both parties focused most of their time and money on contested Salt Lake County races. But a new, more aggressive Republican strategy did not help conservative candidates much - particularly on the east side. Democrats Ross Romero, Carol Spackman Moss, Karen Morgan, Roz McGee and Pat Jones all defeated their Republican challengers.
"Some of these districts are Democratic strongholds for a reason," Hartley said. "There really wasn't much more that could have been done."
In Salt Lake County, GOP challengers from Salt Lake City's east bench to Magna blanketed voters with mailings in the weeks leading up to Election Day. They criticized Democratic incumbents for voting for everything from in-state tuition for the children of undocumented workers to a $15 million Capitol parking garage - both Republican initiatives. Democrats alleged a link between the Republican mailings and Parents for Choice in Education, a lobbying group that exists to push taxpayer-subsidized private school vouchers.
Rather than respond in kind, Democratic lawmakers say they ran positive, issue-oriented campaigns.
"That's what people wanted to hear," said Jones, who won her bid for retiring state Sen. Patrice Arent's seat representing Cottonwood Heights and Holladay.