Two of the dozen state legislative races in Davis County sparked unusual interest during the political season, both pitting Republican candidates against each other in some vicious infighting.
The retirement of longtime state Sen. Haven Barlow sparked a scramble by four Republican candidates to take his place. Two - Robert Arbuckle and Clyde Heiner - were eliminated in a contentious GOP convention last spring, leaving two attorneys, Doug Durbano of Layton and Kaysville's Craig Taylor, to battle in the June primary.Taylor swamped Durbano, 67 percent to 33 percent, for the GOP nomination and faces Democrat Lawrence Buhler and Libertarian Joe Judd for the seat, which includes the Kaysville, Farmington and Layton areas.
The other GOP infighting was between three-term House Rep. Nancy Lyon, Bountiful, and challenger Charles "Ted" Bradford, Bountiful. A party faction forced an ethics investigation into Lyon's statement that Bradford, a former juvenile court judge, had at one time been fired from his job.
Lyon backed off on the statement, only to be attacked days before the June primary by fliers handed out by the same group, painting a committee vote Lyon cast as being pro-abortion.
After losing a tight race to Bradford for the District 20 GOP nomination in the June primary, Lyon announced last week she would mount a write-in campaign against him. A day later, she called off the move, citing the furor it stirred among GOP leaders on the county and state level.
That leaves Bradford, facing Democrat Clay Swank, Libertarian Gary Root and American Party nominee Herbert Henderson for the south Davis district's seat in the Legislature.
But Swank, and fellow Democratic nominee Michael Bingham, Bountiful, in neighboring District 19, had their own problems: They were disavowed by their party in the spring convention.
The two - neither of whom attended the Democrats' county convention in April - were accused of following a splinter group of the party.
The Democrats repudiated both men at their convention and nominated two candidates from the floor. State election officials ruled Swank and Bingham paid their filing fees and filed as candidates within state law and will appear on the ballot.
The other candidates for District 19 include Republican Sheryl Allen, a former county school board member; Libertarian Douglas Roach; and Independent Travis Garrett.
The remainder of the races in the county are tamer. All are contested, but only five offer the traditional Democrat vs. Republican matchup. The rest of the candidates are Libertarians or independents.
In the District 21 Senate campaign, incumbent Republican David Steele, West Point, is being challenged by Democrat Gale Voigt, Syracuse, a former representative from the area, along with Libertarian Norman Parker and Independent American candidate Jeffrey Ostler.
In Senate District 18, which takes in portions of Davis and Weber counties, Republican Nathan C. Tanner and Democrat LaWanna "Lou" Shurtliff, both Ogden residents, want to succeed retiring Sen. Winn L. Richards, D-Ogden.