Paul Rolly: Conservative Utah legislators face challenge from moderates

Paul Rolly in the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Utah Republican Party seems to be in a battle for its political soul.

Fifteen Republican incumbents in the state House of Representatives are facing stiff challenges from within their own party. Of the nine Republican incumbents who are up for re-election in the State Senate, five are being challenged by fellow Republicans.

For the first time in memory, all 75 House seats are contested, while in the Senate, only President John Valentine, R-Provo, escaped with no challenger at all. [...]

One telling feature of this year's political climate is that while many Republicans have GOP opponents, the most outspoken anti-voucher Republicans — Reps. Sheryl Allen, Kory Holdaway, Steve Mascaro, Mel Brown and Kay McIff — have no Republican opponent. That is a shift from past years when moderate Republicans were the ones being targeted in GOP conventions by the armies of the right.

Getting more Democrats in the legislature would be great, but replacing the extremist conservatives with more moderate Republicans wouldn't be bad either.