Women, Democratic candidates say new district maps hurt them, protect incumbents
Wendy Davis and Lynette Wendel, both democrats, nearly unseated long-time Republican state lawmakers Steve Eliason and Jim Dunnigan in 2020. Now the women say those hopes are dashed due to district maps redrawn by lawmakers. (Photo: Cristina Flores/KUTV)
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (KUTV) — Wendy Davis and Lynette Wendel, both democrats, nearly unseated long-time Republican state lawmakers Steve Eliason and Jim Dunnigan in 2020.
The races were so close, they felt confident they could beat them in the next election, but now the women say those hopes were dashed when district maps were redrawn by lawmakers in a process that lacked transparency.
They don’t think they were cut out by accident.
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“The bottom line is I’ve been strategically removed from a district where I could potentially win,” said Davis, who lost to Eliason by 77 votes.
Wendel lost to Dunnigan by 84 votes — the Taylorsville lawmaker has held a legislative seat for over 18 years.
She too said she feels she was a target by lawmakers who want to protect Republican incumbents and keep the status quo on Capitol Hill.
“It was a very strategic approach so that very few people who have an insulated agenda can force that agenda continuously on this state,” Wendel said.
Wendel said precincts she won were “cherry-picked” out of her district.
In Davis’ case, she was redrawn out of District 45 and is now in District 40, where only parts of three precincts she won remain. Her old district was sliced up and now spans five cities.
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Most of the people in her Sandy neighborhood whom she met at their doorsteps in the last election are not in her new district.
Eliason and Dunnigan were not on the Legislative Redistricting Committee that drew the final maps.
The Legislative Redistricting Committee was sharply criticized and drew protest from of Utahns both Republican and Democrat, who complained the process was secretive.
They also complained lawmakers ignored the maps developed by the Independent Redistricting Commission that was formed after voters passed Prop. 4 with the goal of addressing gerrymandering.
State Sen. Scott Sandall from Box Elder County served as co-chair of the Legislative Redistricting Committee.
He said he does not believe Wendel and Davis’ district were changed to protect the incumbents.
“It’s unfortunate that they feel that way," he said. "From my perspective, I didn’t have any conversation with anyone that would have led me to believe that was intentional."
Sandall said lines on maps were redrawn to reflect changes in the population, especially in western Utah County and southwest Salt Lake County where the population grew faster than the state average of 18.2%.
As a result, he said district lines were redrawn all over the Salt Lake Valley.
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Sandall said the new maps encourage new, diverse candidates to run for legislative seats. He said currently, the average state representative or senator serves fewer than seven years.
Wendel and Davis don’t buy it.
“I absolutely believe that fearing potential strong women who can run for office and beat Republican is frightening, and it’s very easy to neutralize that by claiming it’s a boundary issue,” Davis said.
Davis, the vice president of a software company, said it’s been a dream since childhood to run for office and represent her community — which is more and more diverse.
Wendel, who is a professional mediator and serves on the planning commission in Taylorsville, said while the population in her community has not grown, it’s changed drastically with more ethnic and racial diversity.
The changes to district maps, they said, only ensure things stay the same on Utah’s Capitol Hill.
“The person I ran against has served 10 terms," Wendel said. "That’s not a lot of change in a community that has undergone great change."
