Democratic candidate Jake Fitisemanu speaks during the Elevate Strategies Election Night Party at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. (Photo by Marco Lozzi for Utah News Dispatch)
The crowd at an election night party attended by several Democratic nominees quietly disappeared after some concession speeches and before the presidential election results began to make it clear that Vice President Kamala Harris would not be able to gather enough votes to win the race.
But among the celebratory speeches from some well-known state Democrats were new votes, including from a Republican House district that is on the verge of flipping, according to unofficial results.
Jake Fitisemanu, a two-term West Valley City Council member and Democratic Party nominee for State House District 30, is projected to win his first state race with nearly 53% of the vote, more than his Republican opponent Fred Cox, a former representative of the House of Representatives. which received approximately 47%.
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“I’m here for the community. I’m here for the hood and we’re going to teach the state of Utah how we do things on the west side, what the right way to do things is. You have a lot to learn from us in the West,” Fitisemanu said on election night, just minutes after the first set of results were released.
Fitisemanu, a 42-year-old community health manager at Intermountain Healthcare, is on track to replace West Valley City Republican Rep. Judy Weeks-Rohner, who resigned her seat following an unsuccessful run for Senate.
A fierce advocate for the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, home to some of Utah’s most diverse populations, he said Wednesday that one of his priorities is to ensure the west side is factored into statewide decisions.
“And I say that because we have a unique population, we have a very diverse population, and we have communities that are growing in many ways that other places in the state are not experiencing,” he said. “And so if we don’t have a seat at the table, so to speak, to really stand up and speak out for our communities, there’s a good chance that we’ll be forgotten or neglected in those decisions.”
Fitisemanu is expected to be one of 15 Democrats in a House dominated by a Republican supermajority. He will likely be joined by some new Democratic Party names, including Verona Mauga, who will replace Brett Garner, D-West Valley City; Rosalba Dominguez, who succeeds Rep. Mark Wheatley, D-Murray; Hoang Nguyen, who replaces Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City; and Grant Miller, who ran unopposed after defeating incumbent Democratic Salt Lake City Rep. Joel Briscoe in the primary.
Despite his party membership, he acknowledges that in a purple district he must balance priorities for the other half of voters who did not vote for him.
“By simply running this as some sort of partisan race, you’re essentially ignoring the other half of the community,” he said. “And so I am sincere when I say that I am here to represent everyone’s interests.”
He is under no illusions that the task will be easy, he said. While he expects disagreements with his Republican counterparts, he hopes his participation in the Legislature is an opportunity to share the West Side’s perspectives with those unfamiliar with their communities.
When he knocked on our door as a Democrat, he often told his future voters that he also saw a Democratic supermajority in his home state of Hawaii as an imperfect system.
“I don’t think a supermajority in either direction is helpful. We need dialogue and we need balance. And I hope I can bring a little bit of that to the Utah Legislature.”
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