Daily Herald, Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Jeremy Duda

Yes, Virginia, there are Democrats in Utah County.

That's the message the Utah County Democratic Party is trying to get across with the launch of its new Web site, www.utahcountydemocrats.com. Chairman Richard Davis said the party is trying to counter the misconception that the Democratic Party does not have a presence in Utah County and that the Republican Party is so strong it cannot be challenged here.

"We are a presence, a growing presence. We want voters to know that when they go to the polls next November," Davis said.

Davis feels the party, long neglected here, is starting to make headway in Utah County. His counterpart on the other side of the aisle, however, disagrees.

Utah County Republican Party chairwoman Marian Monnahan said she has not seen any indications that the Democratic Party has made inroads in the county. The county is growing, and many of the new residents may register to vote as Democrats, she said, but just as many are registering as Republicans. The numbers, she said, aren't enough to challenge Utah County's reputation as the reddest county in the nation's reddest state.

"I just don't see the percentages changing that much," she said.

According to the Utah County elections office, there are 111,375 registered Republicans in the county, compared to 9,751 registered Democrats. Another 108,616 registered voters in the county are unaffiliated.

Davis said the Democratic Party shares many of the same values as Utah County voters, citing voter support for planned growth, transportation, health care for children and funding for public schools. Oftentimes, he said, Republican legislators do not see eye to eye with their constituents on such issues.

"There's just a host of issues that the voters are on one side and the Republican legislators on the other side, and so when people go to vote they really don't have options," he said. "We want them to know that there are options, and we're going to help them have options. They don't have to vote for the same people over and over and over again because there's no one else to vote for."

The site's launch, which was announced Monday on the popular Web site YouTube, comes about a year before the 2008 election. This year is a municipal election year, and in Utah County those elections are non-partisan.

Davis said the timing was meant to help get the word out about the Democratic Party as Utah County voters start thinking about casting their ballots.

"We're going to spend that year making ourselves known to Utah County voters, and a Web site is one way to do that," he said.

The Web site is not the Utah County Democratic Party's first, but it may be the first that is effective. Davis said the party's old Web site was launched two or three years ago, but it provided little information about party activities in Utah County and was rarely updated. The site has been inactive for several months.

Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it