Fewer than 30 votes stand between Utah Forward Party incumbent Emily Buss and Republican challenger Brooks Benson in the race for Senate District 11, with ballots still being counted in Tooele and Salt Lake counties. The razor-thin margin caps a contest that pitted a sitting senator appointed after Daniel Thatcher left the Republican Party for the Utah Forward Party and later resigned against a GOP nominee who cleared 95 of 130 votes from Republican state delegates on the first ballot.
Buss currently holds the seat after being appointed and sworn in, according to ABC4 Utah, which means Tuesday's election marks her first time actually running for it. She inherited the post after then-Senator Daniel Thatcher left the Republican Party for the Utah Forward Party and later resigned, the station reports. Buss has said elected officials should weigh each issue independently rather than treat party membership as a voting instruction, a philosophy that has defined her brief tenure in the seat.
Benson, meanwhile, arrives with a clear mandate from his own party faithful. He secured a 73% endorsement rate from Republican state delegates, winning 95 of 130 total votes cast on the first ballot, per the same ABC4 report. The district itself includes parts of Eagle Mountain, Tooele, and West Valley City, terrain that has historically tilted hard toward Republicans.
A District Built for a Republican Blowout
That lean isn't subtle. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Senate District 11 favors a Republican over a Democrat by 36 percentage points in a typical year, making Buss's narrow hold on the lead all the more notable. The seat's competitiveness this cycle also reflects a broader statehouse backdrop: Utah's Legislature sits under supermajority Republican control heading into this year's midterms, according to KUER.
The race wasn't always a two-way affair. Democrat MacKenzie Miller withdrew from the contest back in August, according to Utah News Dispatch, leaving Buss and Benson to face off directly. Miller said he dropped out after concluding that a three-way race would likely hand the district back to the Legislature's Republican supermajority, the outlet reported.
Money, Messaging and an Outside Push
Heading into Tuesday, the financial picture favored Benson. He had raised $92,000, including $20,000 from the Utah Republican Senate Campaign Committee, the Salt Lake Tribune reported in its rundown of legislative races to watch. Buss had raised $71,000, with $55,000 of that coming from the Forward Utah Party itself, the paper's report noted — a reliance on party backing that underscores how much the Forward Party has invested in keeping the seat.
An outside group also poured money into tilting the race toward Benson. Utah Politics News reported that the group spent $206,000 supporting Benson and attacking Buss, several times more than either candidate had raised on their own at the time. The same outlet's election-night guide had rated the contest Lean Republican ahead of the results.
On policy, Buss has pitched affordability measures including ending the sales tax on food and limiting corporate purchases of single-family homes, according to the Tribune's candidate coverage. Benson, who did not respond to the Tribune's candidate questionnaire, has said Utah family impact will guide every policy decision and has pointed to a background in behavioral science and family studies, framing his platform around empowering families, fiscal responsibility, and limited government, per ABC4's reporting.
A Forward Party Test Case
The outcome carries weight beyond one Senate seat. A Deseret News poll published in April and cited by Utah News Dispatch found that six in ten Utah voters don't feel well represented by either major party, a finding the outlet tied directly to the Forward Party's pitch to voters. A win for Buss would hand the fledgling party one of its clearest proof points yet that an independent-minded incumbent can survive in deep-red territory; a Benson win would return the seat to the GOP column that has long dominated the district.
For now, the margin remains under 30 votes while election workers in Tooele and Salt Lake counties finish their count, leaving both camps to wait on the final tally before either side can claim the seat.
