OREM — Saturday was a great day for eight of the nine incumbents running for re-election at the Utah County Republican Convention — but just barely for two of them.
And for Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, the day couldn't have been worse — but again, just barely.
Tilton lost his seat in the Utah House when delegates in District 65 gave upstart challenger Francis Gibson 70 of 115 votes, or 60.8 percent. That gave Gibson a supermajority and earned him the Republican nomination, ousting Tilton from the Legislature.
If two more delegates had switched their votes to Tilton, Gibson wouldn't have reached the magical 60 percent threshold and the candidates would have battled to a June primary.
Instead, Gibson will face Democrat Doug Baxter in the November general election, and Tilton will try to decide whether his vote for school vouchers or his controversial effort to build a nuclear power plant in Utah caused his downfall.
The other eight GOP incumbents who faced re-election challenges at the convention all won easily, and all by supermajorities like Gibson. That meant no primaries for any legislator whose entire district is in Utah County.
Two of those incumbents reached 60 percent by the skin of their teeth — Rep. Brad Daw with 60.4 percent and Rep. Keith Grover with 60.8 percent.
With one more vote, Linda Housekeeper would have forced Daw into a primary. Lisa Shepherd needed two more votes to take Grover to a primary.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, easily won the nomination over Jackie deGaston, whose high-profile accusations that party leadership was stacking the deck in his favor gained little hold with delegates in Senate District 16.
"I think misrepresentations and negative campaigning were proven to once again be an unsuccessful strategy," Bramble said.
DeGaston expressed satisfaction that she brought attention to the Utah County Republican Party's practice of allowing elected officials to be delegates. She called them automatic delegates. Party leaders say they are ex-officio delegates, a common practice.
"Is there a person alive who doesn't know there is a problem with automatic delegates?" deGaston said.
Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert attended the convention and said ex-officio delegates are beneficial because they can educate other voters about the political process. He indicated willingness to review how replacement and discretionary delegates are assigned, but signaled that he believes local control is better than state control.
The convention's most famous delegate was 17-year-old Hannah Lockhart. The daughter of Utah Republican Party Chairman Stan Lockhart and Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, found herself embroiled in controversy last week when deGaston tried to have her delegate credentials revoked.
Hannah Lockhart graduated from the Utah County Academy of Sciences on Friday and is enrolled at Brigham Young University. She won election as a delegate from the precinct where she lives now, not the one where she lived at the time of that election, but she did so on the advice of Utah County Republican Chairwoman Marian Monnahan.
DeGaston filed a complaint but didn't pursue it at a hearing Friday afternoon, and Lockhart was seated. Lockhart plans to major in political science and chuckled at the idea that the whole experience might make a good term paper.
"It felt really good to be finally involved myself and to cast a vote and make a difference," she said, adding she was shocked and frustrated by the attention drawn to her case. "I know what I did was on the advice of people who knew what they were doing. I just tried to follow the rules."
Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork, also cruised to victory against Chance Williams, whose effort to question Morley's ethics drew only 18 percent of the vote in House District 66. Williams was warned not to discuss at a candidates' night event a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit seeking the return of $3 million Morley got from a hedge fund investment before it went sour.
Williams was again warned before his speech Saturday that "mudslinging" would bring an end to his time.
Williams responded by pointing out that candidates pledge when they file to criticize their opponents where they differ "without fear or favor."
Other winners, by highest vote percentage, were Rep. Kenneth Sumsion, House District 56; Rep. Craig Frank, House District 57; Rep. Chris Herrod, House District 62; and Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, House District 58.
Tilton owns Transition Power, which is seeking to build a $3 billion nuclear power plant in Utah while Tilton has been serving as vice chairman of an interim legislative committee considering legislation that would help utilities build nuclear power plants.
He didn't blame media coverage of that issue for his loss. Instead, Tilton said he may be a victim of voucher backlash. He voted in favor of school vouchers last year, when the Legislature approved a vouchers bill that later was rejected by Utah voters in a referendum. Many candidates this year, especially Democrats, are running in an attempt to oust voucher supporters.
"I think you'd find a lot of my constituents were very supportive of nuclear power," Tilton said. "I don't think it was a big issue. I think vouchers were a significant issue. The Nebo School District is the largest employer in my area."
Tilton will remain in office until January.
"I think the focus I'll have for the rest of the year is property-tax reform issues coming up in committee. I hope somebody picks up the ball and works on equalization statewide. That's been my big push."
Gibson was delighted with the win and a little surprised to reach 60 percent.
"It's overwhelming," he said. "I had hoped to get to a primary and worked until midnight Friday trying to do that."
He said a positive campaign helped at a convention where those who complained about local party leadership were rejected.
"A lot of negative has been written about the Utah County Republican Party," he said. "I never complained about a thing. I just lowered my head and went to work."
Results from Saturday's Utah County Republican Convention at Orem High School. Candidates who earned 60 percent automatically won the Republican nomination and advanced to the November general election without a primary.
Senate District 16
Curt Bramble (i) 119 67 percent
Jaqueline deGaston 51
James O'Neal 5
Blank 1
House District 56
Kenneth Sumsion (i) 125 96 percent
Jared Sepulveda 4 4 percent
Blank 1
House District 57
Craig Frank (i) 68 68 percent
Kim Robinson 32
Jennifer Baptista 0
House District 58
Stephen Sandstrom (i) 64 63 percent
Paul D. Newton 37
House District 60
Brad Daw 52 (i) 60.4 percent
Linda Housekeeper 34
House District 61
Keith Grover (i) 57 60.8 percent
Lisa Shepherd 37
House District 62
Chris Herrod (i) 60 67 percent
David Starling 30
House District 65
Francis Gibson 70 60.8 percent
Aaron Tilton (i) 45
House District 66
Mike Morley (i) 71 82 percent
Chance Williams 15
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com