When the blue wave swept most of the country and splashed through Utah, the most senior Republican on the Salt Lake County Council spent the evening with Democrats.

Dea Theodore, who represents Sandy, most of Draper and parts of Midvale and Cottonwood Heights, wanted to get to know her new colleagues.

Democrats flipped two County Council seats and retained a third, giving the party its first majority on the council since 2010. The party’s election night success extended to all countywide races, from an at-large council seat and auditor to district attorney and sheriff.

“I don’t think it’s a complete surprise,” said Theodore, the District 6 representative. “I think what’s more surprising is just the whole blue wave that hit Utah in general, right?”

Theodore said she expected Democrats to take the majority, even if she wasn’t bracing for the 6-3 supermajority they’ll hold when they’re sworn into office in January. Despite the upheaval, though, she expects the panel to be steadfast in serving residents.

“I don’t think it changes our work,” she said. “We still have a lot of the same challenges. We have some of the same issues, and a lot going on. … The work isn’t changing.”

Building relationships

Democrat Zach Robinson won the council’s at-large “A” seat, which is currently held by Republican Laurie Stringham. She lost her reelection bid at the Salt Lake County GOP nominating convention earlier this year to Kathleen Anderson.

Robinson, a former firefighter and paramedic who works in virtual care at University of Utah Health, has served two terms on the Sandy City Council and ran for Theodore’s seat in 2024. As a Sandy council member, he was also Theodore’s representative.

Robinson hopes to hit the ground running when he begins his term and said council members need to be “aggressive” in pursuing policies that will make people’s lives better.

“We spent a better part of a year out there talking to residents in every single city across this valley,
and so many people are dealing with so much, and they’re looking to our County Council to actually make some positive change,” he said. “I don’t think we get the opportunity to sit back.”

Robinson said his main priorities are to address affordability for residents by investing in services they depend on, while also supporting community safety efforts and preserving the county’s natural resources and open spaces. If he could get something done immediately, he said, he’d want to restore cuts made to county services like childcare. Late last year, the council approved a Republican-led initiative that shuttered four county-run programs that offered deeply discounted daycare.

Democrat Luke Maynes, who won the council’s District 3 seat currently occupied by Republican Aimee Winder Newton, decided to run because of those cuts to county childcare programs, he said. Winder Newton, who led the charge on the initiative, announced early this year that she would not seek another term. GOP candidate Mike Bird ran against Maynes for the seat, which represents Taylorsville and parts of Murray, Midvale, West Valley City and West Jordan.

Restoring and expanding the childcare programs will be one of Maynes’ first priorities when he takes office, he said.

“The new council — including me, maybe especially me — really believes in proactive upfront investment,” Maynes said. “When we invest in things like childcare, in things like trade programs, anything like that, that investment up front will save the county money in the long run.”

Maynes said this change in philosophy — a departure from the 5-4 Republican majority that he said encouraged the county to do the “bare minimum” and only made substantial investments in the criminal justice system — will be the biggest change to come from Democrats taking power.

Robinson and Maynes say they are committed to building relationships with Republican and Democratic council members alike.

“That’s where … we need to put our heads together,” Robinson said. “Understanding everybody’s different perspective is going to be really key, because it’s going to be on us as a body — a body of nine — to come together and make sure that all of our perspectives are heard when we do create some policies.”

Republican Traci Crockett, meanwhile, will take over the council’s District 5 seat, which includes a swath of southwestern Salt Lake County. She secured a win over Democrat Sara Cimmers after incumbent Republican Sheldon Stewart did not run for reelection.

Crockett’s first priority, she said, is to get to know her fellow council members, regardless of political affiliation.

“I was elected to represent people and not a party,” Crockett said. “These are people, right? So it’s not seeing them as Democrat and Republican, but it’s just seeing them as people. And everyone I’ve ever met that’s been elected, they’re going in there because they want to better their communities — they want to make it a better place to live.”

A new era of power

The new council also brings the first time Democratic Mayor Jenny Wilson will have a political majority.

“I heard Republicans say, ‘That was like an asteroid zooming through the air that catapulted itself onto a big landmass,’” Wilson said. “It was more than a wave. And so I think the scope and scale of the Democratic tsunami was deeper than any of us projected.”

Wilson was on the council for two years while Democrats held a majority, and said the most notable change going forward is that her party will be able to control the agenda and set the schedule for policy discussions.

“One thing about Salt Lake County is we’re very much in the service delivery space,” Wilson said. “I think the idea of parks and recreation, and commitment to arts and culture, and a strong health department and good libraries — those are generally things that we have bipartisan agreement on.”

Wilson acknowledged the childcare debate last year was one of the times when there was a partisan difference of opinion, but, for the most part, the council forms bipartisan “consensus and coalitions,” and she “felt very good” about what she’s been able to pass as a Democratic mayor with a Republican majority on the council.

“I would assume that many things will stay the same, and that we’ll just continue to go down a road that is productive for our residents,” Wilson said. “And we remember every day that they’re people first, and they might have a party affiliation, but, first and foremost, we need to be equitable in delivering services to all of our cities and communities.”

Despite the Democratic supermajority, Wilson doesn’t expect the county will “all of a sudden move a lot of left-leaning proposals” and said her first mandate is to represent the entirety of the county. She added that she’d have to give “additional thought” to proposals that might be easier to move through with more Democrats on the council.

On a larger scale, though, Wilson said one of her goals has been for Democrats to end the Republican supermajority in the Utah Legislature. If unofficial results hold, Democrats will break up the supermajority in the House.

“I don’t think one-party dominant rule is a good thing,” Wilson said. “Balance in government leads to better government. So when I look at the impact of the legislative change, I think it’s a good thing to have more balance and have people be open to really giving a true voice to our Democratic legislators, and I think that’s been lacking in previous years.”