LOGAN – GOP candidate Chris Wilson has been promising to listen to the residents of Utah’s Senate District 25 for months.
Voters in Cache and Rich counties apparently listened to that promise.
During Tuesday’s general election, Wilson won the seat in the Legislature that lame duck State Sen. Lyle Hillyard has held for more than three decades.
Wilson garnered 26,276 votes, compared to 10,931 votes for Democratic challenger Nancy Huntly, a professor at Utah State University.
Since announcing his candidacy in January, Wilson has made his campaign a crusade against state mandates and policies that ignore the will of average Utahns.
The Logan businessman upset the incumbent Hillyard for the GOP nomination on the strength of his vocal opposition to Utah’s 2019 tax reform package, which would have increased sales taxes on food and many personal services. After a successful statewide petition drive, that measure was repealed during the opening hours of the 2020 legislative session.
During the run-up to the general election, Wilson continued to portray himself as an advocate for voters’ opinions.
By contrast, Huntly’s low-key campaign focused mainly on environmental issues and land stewardship.