This year's races in the Utah House and Utah Senate will be a good indication of whether Utah County voters have jumped on the term-limit and anti-incumbent bandwagon.
Every single incumbent in Utah County House and Senate districts are seeking re-election. Two incumbents - Rep. Jordan Tanner, R-Provo, and Rep. Bill Wright, R-Elberta - will return to the House because they are running unopposed.Democrats and Republicans both have eyes on the race in House District 66. Incumbent Rep. Tim Moran, D-Spanish Fork, is the county's lone Democrat representative and is seeking his sixth term. If GOP challenger and Salem resident Allan Hales can dethrone Moran, the Republicans might hold every political office in Utah County. Libertarian candidate G. Franklin Bradford also is seeking the office.
Two former BYU professors will square off in the county's only Senate race - in District 15. Incumbent Sen. LeRay McAllister, R-Orem, is being challenged by Democrat J. Keith Melville, Orem.
No Democrat challenger has spent as much time and money campaigning as Fae C. Beck, of Provo, in her quest to upset incumbent Rep. Jeff Alexander, R-Provo, in House District 62. Alexander, owner of Alexander's Print Shop, hopes to return to the House so he can push through a welfare-reform bill. Beck, a self-employed tourism consultant, is seeking her first political office.
In District 65, incumbent Rep. J. Brent Haymond is hoping his involvement with the Bonneville Pacific bankruptcy case will not prevent voters from returning him to the House for the third time. Democrat Eugene L. Faux, also of Springville, launched an extensive campaign challenging Haymond's past voting record.