Utah politics in the 1980s can be summed up in a word: Republican.
Ronald Reagan reigned from the White House, after claiming 70 percent of the Utah vote to crush President Jimmy Carter. The president dominated Utah - although he actually only visited a handful of times - as no other state in the union.The decade started with an already strongly Republican state becoming more so. Democrat Scott Matheson won re-election as governor in 1980 but stood alone, surrounded by an all-Republican congressional delegation, a GOP-controlled Utah House and Senate and Republican attorney general, auditor and treasurer.
Five-term 1st District Rep. Gunn McKay, a Democrat, was beaten by then-speaker of the Utah House Jim Hansen, 48-52 percent.
Just as important, the growing swell of right-wing moralism was cutting swaths in the Utah Legislature. Republicans held veto-proof majorities in both houses. Mac Haddow, Lloyd Selleneit and Robert Sykes were bringing a tough, moral conservativism to the House, then overseen by the newly elected speaker, moderate Norm Bangerter. And in the Senate, Sen. Verl Asay was making his presence felt with his moral issue bills. All but Bangerter were gone from the political scene by the end of the decade, however, and the moral right significantly weakened.
Democrat Ted Wilson remained popular in Salt Lake City during the 1980s, winning two four-year terms as mayor under the new council/mayor form of government. But Wilson's attempt to unseat GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, standing for his first re-election in 1982, fell well short.
When Matheson decided not to seek a third term as governor in 1984, the open seat almost assured a Republican victory. Bangerter gave it to them, defeating former congressman Wayne Owens.
The Republicans were so strong during the mid-1980s that some wondered if Democrats could eve rcome back. But 1986 handed the state's underdog party some surprise victories.
Owens won the 2nd Congressional District seat after Republicans shot themselves in the foot, asking the incumbent with waning popularity, Rep. David Monson, not to try again. Monson got out, and Salt Lake County Commissioner Tom Shimizu couldn't handle Owens.
In the Utah House, Democrats won 13 seats from the Republicans. They even talked of winning 11 more seats in 1988 and taking control of the body.
The Republican shield was dented. But the real confidence breach came in 1987.
Bangerter, facing perhaps the state's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, recommended a $200 million tax increase to the 1987 Legislature. Shock waves reverberated. Lawmakers granted a $165 million tax hike, but a group of conservative Utahns, many veterans of previous, failed tax protest movements, organized with new power.
Bangerter found himself trailing Democrat Wilson, now trying for the governor's seat, by 35 points in the polls in late 1987.
But Bangerter's darkest day came when industrial Jon Huntsman, a longtime Republican supporter, announced in March 1988 that he was challenging Bangerter for the GOP nomination. A month later Huntsman withdrew, but few still believed the governor could beat Wilson.
Maverick Republican Merrill Cook then jumped the GOP ship and announced he'd run as an independent for governor. Coo, who had spent liberally from his private funds during failed races in the past, pumped money into his again campaign.
But the Republican machine rallied. The tax protest movement went down in defeat. Wilson stumbled badly. Cook ran a strong third in the race, getting 20 percent of the vote. Wilson received 38 percent and Bangerter, who'd campaigned hard and well, won with 40 percent - the first minority governor in the state's modern history.
The Republicans continued to hold almost universal power, although Democrat Paul Van Dam did win the attorney general's office in 1988.
The 1990s dawn with Democrats again wondering what they have to do to win a statewide election in Utah.
*****
TOP 5: Most significant political events 1. Reagan elected president, loved in Utah
2. Republicans sweep Democrats from office in mid-1980s.
3. Tax protest movement springs up in 1987.
4. Republicans, split by tax protest movement, hold on in 1988.
5. Democrats win respectibility in a 1986 comeback.
*****
Careers of the '80s
Politicians who rose to prominence during the decade
Norm Bangerter, elected governor
Jim Hansen, 1st District congressman
Merrill Cook, never elected
Howard Nielson, 3rd Dist. congressman
Long timers
Politicians who started their careers in the '70s, but were still at it in the '80s.
Jake Garn Scott Matheson
Orrin Hatch Dan Marriott
Wayne Owens
Rest in peace
Politicians whose careers most likely ended in the '80s.
Ted Wilson Dave Wilkinson
Dave Watson Ted Cannon
Dave Monson
*****
Hansen vs. McKay
Round I, 1980
Hansen 52 percent; McKay 48 percent
(McKay was the incumbent)
Round II, 1986
Hansen 51.5 percent; McKay 48.4 percent
Round III, 1988
Hansen 60 percent; McKay 40 percent
*****
Merrill Cook
Spent about $1 million of personal funds on failed attempts at political office: 1984 Ran for State School Board Lost 1985 Ran for Salt Lake City Mayor Lost 1986 Ran for Salt Lake County Commission Lost 1987 Embraced the tax limitation movement 1988 Ran for governor as Independent Lost 1989 Formed Independent Party of Utah, elected party chairman