Low voter turnout: Incumbents fare poorly in key races
It wasn't even close — a real political shellacking — with Chaffetz winning by almost 20 percentage points.
It was not a good night for legislative incumbents, either — two Utah House Republicans fell to intraparty challengers.
Cannon was stunned by the defeat.
"This is a revolution. A revolution by the people sitting at home" and not voting. "A revolution by those who did vote," said Cannon, who added he was caught up in a nationwide feeling of anger and disgruntlement — anger that helped sweep him from office. "It was a 'pox on all your houses' attitude out there" among voters.
Having barely fallen short of defeating Cannon in the May state Republican Convention, Chaffetz predicted that he would "finish the job" in the primary election. And he did — incomplete results showing he beat Cannon in Salt Lake County nearly two to one, carrying the Utah County part of the district and even doing well in rural Utah.
"The low voter turnout shows just how frustrated in general Republicans are," said Chaffetz. Republicans "have lost their way — we have to get back to our core Republican values, our core principles. When we were there, when we held those, that's when we were successful as a party.
"And I'll fight every day to bring us back to those principles," said Chaffetz — who now must be the odds-on favorite to win the seat and go to Washington, D.C., a Republican holding the seat in the 1980s and since 1996.
Cannon said last week that Chaffetz was misrepresenting his congressional record "every time he speaks." But Cannon also admitted that he is not the best of public speakers and sometimes has trouble expressing his views. Ellis beat Walker by 59 percent to 41 percent. Walker certainly had his campaign problems, but Walker's defeat was also a slap in the face to leading current Republican officeholders who backed Walker with endorsements and campaign cash. Walker was supported by GOP Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Republican leaders in the Utah House and Senate, who claimed Ellis wasn't conservative enough to invest Utah's billions of dollars each year.
Chaffetz will now face Democrat Bennion Spencer in the November election. And Ellis will face Democratic treasurer candidate Dick Clark.
Recent comments
It is the death of our system when so few vote. Sadly, it opens the...
Disappointed | June 26, 2008 at 1:23 p.m.
I think most people didn't vote because they didn't want...
No More Republicans | June 26, 2008 at 12:07 a.m.
When Chris Cannon announced that he would run for a second term,...
sjc | June 25, 2008 at 11:34 p.m.
