Jill Koford wins District 10 Utah House seat, flips seat to Republicans on second try

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OGDEN — Jill Koford has come out on top in the race for the District 10 Utah House seat, returning the Weber County seat to Republicans for the first time since 2018.

Weber County commissioners on Tuesday canvassed results of the voting, affirming the results for the varied races across the county, including the closely contested District 10 contest. Both Koford and Rep. Rosemary Lesser, the two-term Democratic incumbent, had held off on commenting as results came in, but the totals certified Tuesday give Koford the victory with 8,018 votes, 51% of the total, to 7,709 for Lesser, 49%.

It was the closest of the 75 House races this cycle, and Koford's win preserves the 61-14 Republican-Democrat split in the 75-member body. Koford's flip of the District 10 seat was countered by Democrat Jake Fitisemanu's win in the District 30 race in Salt Lake County over Republican Fred Cox, which flipped that post from red to blue.

"(I) am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to serve House District 10 and the many diverse voices of our community. I am ready to get to work," she said in a message to KSL.com. Koford vied unsuccessfully against Lesser in 2022, losing that year by a 52.3%-47.7% margin.

Koford will join 16 other newcomers to the House after November's voting, a total that includes 12 Republicans and five Democrats. Two Senate seats will see newcomers, both of them Republicans currently serving in the House — Cal Musselman in District 4 and Kevin Stratton in District 58.

House Speaker Mike Schultz, a Hooper Republican, publicly recognized Koford's looming victory at a talk Monday to the Weber County Republican Women, drawing applause from the assembled group.

"This was our fourth attempt to get that back. It's a little embarrassing, honestly, to say, 'Hey, I'm from Weber County, the only other county in the state that has a Democrat elected to the House of Representatives,'" Schultz said. Outside of the District 10 post, the only seats held by Democrats in the Utah Legislature are in Salt Lake County.

Dixon Pitcher, a Republican, had held the District 10 post through 2018, opting not to seek reelection that year. Democrat Lou Shurtliff won in the 2018 and 2020 races, beating out GOP contenders. After Shurtliff's death in late 2020, soon after her win that year, Democrats picked Lesser to serve the term and Lesser won reelection in the 2022 cycle, beating Koford.

Lesser posted a message Monday evening on her Instagram account expressing disappointment at the results and offering congratulations to Koford.

"Our campaign's message of expanding healthcare, strengthening economic opportunities and protecting fundamental rights resonated with many," she wrote. "Further, I am so proud of the work that I was able to accomplish in the Legislature on behalf of our community and for the results that we delivered together."

Just as the Republican-Democratic split will stay the same in the House, the 23-6 margin favoring Republicans will remain the same in the Senate after this cycle's voting, with no seats shifting from one party to another.

Related topics

Utah LegislatureUtah electionsUtahPoliticsWeber County

Tim Vandenack

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL.com. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.