SALT LAKE CITY — Changes are coming in the Utah Legislature after Tuesday's election, starting at the top in both the House and Senate.
Neither House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, nor Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, are seeking re-election to their respective chambers. Hughes has served in the House since 2002, while Niederhauser took office in the Senate in 2007.
Those two seats are among 22 open seats in the Legislature — 16 in the House and six in the Senate. Some of the House vacancies are the result of incumbents running for other offices, including the state Senate.
In all, Utah has 90 legislative races — all 75 House seats, 15 Senate seats — including 68 incumbents seeking re-election.
Republicans currently own supermajorities in both bodies, with a 62-13 advantage in the House and 24-5 in the Senate.
Democrats have a chance to flip a couple of House seats.
In House District 32, Democrat Suzanne Harrison lost to Rep. Lavar Christensen, R-Draper, by a handful of votes two years ago. Christensen gave up the seat when he opted to run for state Senate. Republican Brad Bonham and United Utah candidate Bjorn Jones are also competing for the seat.
Former Democratic Rep. Lawanna "Lou" Shurtliff has a chance to take retiring GOP Rep. Dixon Pitcher's place in House District 10 in Ogden. Shurtliff, who served 10 years in the House, faces Republican Lorraine Brown.
The Democrats also could lose a seat in the House.
Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, has a tough challenger in Republican Todd Zenger, a Granite School Board member, who has campaigned heavily in House District 36, covering the Millcreek and Holladay areas.
One of the more competitive Senate races might be Senate District 8, one of the state's true swing districts, in the Holladay and Cottonwood Heights area.
Sen. Brian Zehnder, R-Holladay, is running his first election since being appointed to replace moderate Republican Brian Shiozawa, who resigned to take a job outside Utah. Democrat Kathleen Riebe, a State School Board member, and United Utah party candidate John Jackson are challenging for the seat.
Utah's only openly gay lawmaker, Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, is not seeking re-election in a liberal Avenues district. Democratic Salt Lake City Councilman Derek Kitchen, a plaintiff in Utah's successful same-sex marriage court case, faces Republican Chase Winder in Senate District 2.
Also, longtime Sens. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, and Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City, along with Reps. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, and Becky Edwards, North Salt Lake, are not running.
As for new legislative leadership, Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams, R-Layton, is the frontrunner to become Senate president. He is running unopposed in Senate District 22.
House Majority Leader Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, is lining up to be the next House speaker should he win re-election in House District 15, where Democrat Rich Miller is challenging him.
Legislative leadership elections are conducted in closed caucuses after the general election.