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Political newcomer wins big over incumbent
Joe Pyrah
Jason Chaffetz started his campaign for the 3rd Congressional District a year and a half ago with little money and even less name recognition. Now he's ousted incumbent Chris Cannon in the primary for the Republican nomination.
Chaffetz's lead started as soon as results started trickling in, and he never lost his momentum. Cannon conceded the race just before 11 p.m. --he had about 40 percent of the votes to Chaffetz's 60, with more than 90 percent of precincts reporting. Voter turnout, however, was low -- less than 8 percent of registered voters cast ballots in Utah County.
Cannon said he lost because "people decided not to vote today. What you have is a major expression of disinterest."
Cannon said he is not endorsing or supporting Chaffetz at this point.
"I don't know anything about him," he said.
Then he added, "I'm waiting to learn a little more about him."
Cannon, 58, of Mapleton, is in his sixth term as U.S. representative and has a scant six months to wrap up business in Washington before cleaning out his office and going home for good. He said he's going spend his last months in office pounding away on the oil shale issue and working to address the immigration problem.
After he's out of office, Cannon said he would like to pursue business interests, adding that there are groups he thinks would value his counsel. But he hasn't talked to anyone about his future yet.
"I've never talked to anybody about anything after my congressional career because that would not be proper," he said.
Early Tuesday night, Cannon took aim at the far right of the Republican Party, which has repeatedly tried to unseat him.
"The extremists who don't want to win elections have taken over the party," he said, referring to Republicans in other parts of the country. "We don't want that to happen in Utah. Politics is way too important to leave to the boors."
Chaffetz's road to Republican front-runner has been a long climb on a decidedly low budget. Considered an afterthought at the Republican state convention in May, he instead nearly unseated Cannon there. He also crushed David Leavitt, who had big money, a big name (he's Michael Leavitt's brother) and was the supposed frontrunner.
Experts say Chaffetz, a 41-year-old Alpine resident, simply outworked his two convention opponents, but again, no one gave him much chance against Cannon in the primary. He raised substantially less than the incumbent and was outspent 6-to-1.
"People are ready for change and standing up, getting involved," Chaffetz said.
He will now face Democrat Bennion Spencer of Riverton and Jim Noorlander, a member of the Constitution Party, in the General Election in November.
"I'm going to reserve one day before thinking about November," Chaffetz said.
The Chaffetz victory is part of a wave of change that people are looking for this year, said Kelly Patterson, a political science professor at BYU.
"Right now he only needs to be one thing. And that's a fresh face," he said.
The candidates' different styles were evident Tuesday night at their respective election-night gatherings. Cannon and about 50 supporters met on the muggy third floor of the Historic Utah County Courthouse in Provo, drinking bottled water and eating cookies. Chaffetz had hundreds of people spilling out the doors at a condo complex clubhouse in Springville, downing apple beer and listening to a DJ.
Rowdy Chaffetz supporters could be heard outside the building chanting, "Jason."
Utah County Commissioner Steve White was one of the Chaffetz supporters at the Tuesday-night party. He said he voted against Cannon because he's proven himself not to be a leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, and also because he's unhappy with Republicans in Congress.
"They couldn't say no to a president who was a moderate instead of a fiscal conservative," White said.
Chaffetz made the most hay out of criticizing Cannon's stance on illegal immigration, a ballooning federal budget and federal interference in public education.
He has a spotty political career, including a stint campaigning for Michael Dukakis's presidential run in 1988 and some volunteer work in Republican campaigns. He hit the big time when he was asked by then-candidate, now-governor Jon Huntsman Jr. to run his campaign. From there he served a short and sometimes bumpy stint as Huntsman's chief of staff.
Chaffetz also changed the traditional campaign dynamic. While he raised around $200,000, that is considered far below what is typically needed to win. Instead he used a thousand volunteers to spread the word.
"An intense volunteer effort would always pay off in a low-visibility, low-turnout election," Patterson said. |
