Democrats may gain a Utah House seat, but Republicans retain supermajority
Democratic candidate Jake Fitisemanu speaks during the Elevate Strategies Election Night Party at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Marco Lozzi for Utah News Dispatch)
The crowd at an election night party hosting a number of Democratic nominees quietly dissipated after some concession speeches and before the results of the presidential election began to make clear that Vice President Kamala Harris wouldn't be able to gather enough votes to win the race.
But among the celebratory speeches from some familiar state Democrats, there were new voices, including one of a Republican House district that's poised to be flipped, according to unofficial results.
Jake Fitisemanu, a two-term West Valley City Council member and the Democratic Party's nominee for state House District 30 is expected to win his first state race with almost 53% of votes, more than his Republican opponent Fred Cox, a former House representative, who received about 47%.
"I'm here for the community. I'm here for the hood, and we are going to teach the state of Utah how we do things on the west side, which is the right way to do things. You have a lot to learn from us on the west," Fitisemanu said on Election Night, just minutes after the first batch of results were released.
Fitisemanu, a 42-year-old community health manager at Intermountain Healthcare, is on track to replace West Valley City Republican Rep. Judy Weeks-Rohner, who stepped down from her seat for an unsuccessful run for the state Senate.
Being a fierce advocate for the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, the home of some of Utah's most diverse populations, he said on Wednesday that ensuring that west-siders are considered in statewide decisions is one of his priorities in the next legislative session.
"And I say that because we have a unique population, we have a very diverse population, and we have communities that are growing in many ways that other places in the state are not experiencing," he said. "And so if we are not there at the table, so to speak, to really stand up and speak out for our communities, it's a good chance that we'll be forgotten or neglected in those decisions."
Fitisemanu is expected to be one of 15 Democrats in a House dominated by a Republican supermajority. He's likely to be joined by some new Democratic Party names, including Verona Mauga, who's set to replace Brett Garner, D-West Valley City; Rosalba Dominguez, who is succeeding Rep. Mark Wheatley, D-Murray; Hoang Nguyen, who is replacing Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City; and Grant Miller, who ran unopposed after defeating incumbent Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Joel Briscoe in the primary.
Despite his party affiliation, he acknowledges that in a purple district he has to find a balance of priorities for the other half of constituents that didn't vote for him.
"To run this as simply a partisan kind of a race basically ignores the other half of the community," he said. "And so, I'm genuine when I say I'm here to represent everyone's interests."
He's not under the "delusion" that the task will be easy, he said. While he expects disagreements with his Republican counterparts, he hopes his participation in the Legislature is an opportunity to share west-siders' perspectives with those unfamiliar with their communities.
When knocking on doors as a Democrat, he often told his soon-to-be constituents that in his home state of Hawaii, he has seen a Democratic supermajority as an imperfect system, as well.
"I don't think a supermajority in either direction is helpful. We need to have dialogue, and we need to have balance. And I hope that I can bring a little bit of that to the Utah legislature."
