SALT LAKE CITY — Governor Spencer Cox reacted to the mid-term elections, where Republicans across the country saw significant losses.
"There really is no way to say it, Republicans suffered an historic defeat across the country. While many of us expected a difficult election nationally, I don't think anyone — myself included — anticipated the extent to which that wave would reach and impact Utah, particularly in our state legislative races," he told reporters at his monthly news conference on PBS Utah.
The Republican supermajority has been broken in the state legislature with Democrats winning more than a dozen new seats. Offering his take on the elections, Gov. Cox suggested that sometimes voters deliver messages those in power don't want to hear and he intended to spend more time listening.
"I want to spend more time listening to Utahns, including people who disagree with me," he said. "Maybe especially the people who disagree with me. I don’t expect people to agree with every one of those criticisms, or change my position on every issue, but because I believe that good leadership means we have to be willing to listen more, learn, and sometimes change course."
The tone is similar to what newly-elected Senate President Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, told reporters after GOP senators voted to elevate him to the powerful post. Voters ousted his predecessor, Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, in recent elections.
"As we’ve come out of this election cycle, you know, we’ve seen some things change. There’s some messages sent and the public’s telling us things," Sen. Vickers said.
But make no mistake, the Republicans still hold the majority in both chambers on Utah's Capitol Hill. It was something House Majority Leader Casey Snider, R-Paradise, reminded everyone on Friday.
"We, as Republicans, are the majority party by significant margins in the House. We’ve lost great men and women but we still place confidence in the confidence that was given to us from the majority of residents in this state," he said. "We still believe in conservative policies, low taxes, small limited government, doing what we can for families and affordability, those are policies are Utahns want to see."
But with Democrats' gains in the House, it is no longer a sure thing that Republicans can push a piece of legislation through. House Minority Leader Angela Romero told FOX 13 News last week that she believed her caucus could negotiate with the Republican majority.
"I think this is a good place for us as Democrats," she said. "Speaker Schultz and I have always had a good working relationship. We agree on a lot of policy, but there’s a lot of policy we don’t agree on."
Gov. Cox, a Republican, will pick up a little more veto power from the legislative shakeup. With no supermajority in the House, it's no longer a guarantee any veto he issues would be overridden.
"I think this is going to be a different kind of session than what we've seen in the past," he said Monday. "I suspect that some bills that I maybe would have vetoed before but knew that they would get overridden? Probably don't get run in the first place this time around because of the significant changes. But time will tell."