PROVO — Linnea Barney, a two-term member of the State Board of Education and lifelong Republican, is running for the Utah Senate as a Democrat this year.
Barney said she turned to the Democrats when she attempted to get involved in local politics and found her moderate views weren't welcome in the conservative climate of the Utah County Republican Party.
"It wasn't long before I realized that the moderate, mainstream resident of Utah County didn't have a voice in the state Legislature," she said. "When the Democrats called me they convinced me that if they could field high-quality candidates, then they could make a difference in this county."
"Just because I call myself a Democrat, I haven't changed any of my family values," she said.
And Barney isn't the only one. After years of moribundity, the Utah County Democrats have fielded a respectable slate of respectable candidates for the second election in a row — many from the ranks of the GOP. And many are challenging some of the most powerful individuals in the Utah Legislature.
Barney, for example, is running against Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, who won with 68 percent of the vote in the 2008 election.
While most of the these candidates acknowledge they are fighting an uphill battle, all of them carry the same message: This is not your liberal uncle's Democratic party.
"The stereotypes about the national Democrats do not apply to Utah County Democrats," said Richard Davis, a BYU political science professor who is the architect of the party's attempted resurgence in one of the state's most conservative strongholds. "We are much more conservative, much more family oriented. That message got out in the last election, and we are repeating it this year."
To drive that message home, the party is holding a "Family First" Democratic Party rally Saturday, March 27, at 4 p.m. at Orem Jr. High School, 756 N. 600 West.
At the rally, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, Democratic candidate for governor, will share the stage with Karen Hyer, a BYU teacher challenging 3rd District Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Steve Baugh, former Alpine School District superintendent, who is making his second run for the Utah House of Representatives against staunch conservative Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem.
Baugh, who is BYU's director of the Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling and a former LDS stake president, has a lot going for him — including name recognition and a hometown pedigree — he was born and raised in Orem, where he has lived most his life.
Unlike many of this year's field of Democrats, Baugh is a longtime party member, something he finds he must explain often.
"A lot of people ask why I'm running as a Democrat, and I tell them I've always been a Democrat," he said. "I'm still the same person they always liked."
The same holds true for Hal Miller, a BYU psychology professor and also a former stake president, who is running for House District 64 as a Democrat.
But in many other cases, Davis and his fellow party officials have seized on disaffection with local party politics to lure Republicans to the Democratic party, and with some success.
Democrats have filed for nine of 13 House seats from Utah County, as well as candidates for both Utah Senate seats up for election and both Utah County Commission seats.
Hyer said party officials approached her after she spoke supporting another Democratic candidate who was a friend. She was shocked.
"I gave them reasons why they should ask someone else, starting with, that I wasn't a registered Democrat. I've been a Republican all my life," she said. "They said I didn't need to change a thing. My independent views and the strength of my convictions were what brought them there."
Lane Henderson, the former mayor of Salem who is running for the Utah County Commission as a Democrat, said the decision to change parties was "the hardest thing I've ever done." He said he was frustrated two years ago when his moderate Republican views failed to get him out of the county convention in a run for the Utah Senate.
"I've been a staunch Republican my entire life. It was a hard decision, but I felt I could serve the people better from this side," Henderson said.
Davis said it hasn't been hard to convince longtime moderate Republicans to run on the Democratic ticket.
"I have been surprised how easy it is, because the people want to be involved. They are good people, and they are public minded," he said.
Davis said he was prompted to try to pump some life back into Utah County Democrats four years ago when a county official won the party nomination in convention for a race that was not contested by a Democrat ?— in essence winning the election without facing the voters.
"It just bothered me that a few hundred people in a county of nearly a half-million had decided that this person was going to be the county official. This is not a democratic process, where a very small group of people make that decision," he said. "Now we are giving them an option."
Contributing: Sara Lenz
e-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com