After final provisional and absentee ballots were counted, Barack Obama has officially won Salt Lake County, Utah! This is the first time Salt Lake County has voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate since 1964.
Despite all the ugliness of the LDS church's backing of Prop 8, Utah is changing. Outsiders are coming into the state in droves and changing the state's political makeup. The relatively strong economy and the presence of world class skiing - made even more popular by the 2002 Winter Olympics - has drawn thousands of people from around the country to move there in recent years. And like in neighboring Colorado, Nevada and Arizona, many of these voters are Democrats.
I noticed this first-hand this summer when I traveled out to Salt Lake City to visit my sister for a family reunion; she moved to Sandy just three years ago. I saw more Obama signs in Salt Lake City than anywhere else in America. Increasingly, Salt Lake City is a Democratic oasis, along with Summit County (Park City) and Grand County (Moab). Not surprisingly, these are the least Mormon counties in the state.
I just wanted to post news that is very exciting to Democrats in Salt Lake County, many of whom have been fighting against the anti-gay bigotry of the LDS church for a very long time and want to be recognized for coming through this election.