The first returns from Utah polls in the US Senate and House of Representatives indicate Representative Jim Matheson has survived his first ever primary to face republican Morgan Philpot, hoping to return for a sixth term in the US House. Matheson is currently running at 65% with Claudia Wright at 35% of the vote. The GOP senate race is too close to call. Mike Lee is currently leading by around 7% - latest statistics said Lee 10,070 to Bridgewater 8814. Just a small percentage of the vote is in.

Utah had a light turn out in this off year primary election. The 326 polling stations saw little traffic, with about 10% of registered voters opting to participate. Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen believes some of it is due to voters having to choose between primaries. Legislation forces voters to decide between republican and democratic primaries and fiercely private Utah voters don't like to make that choice public. Ms. Swensen said the limited turn out means "the decisions are made by those who show up." Early and absentee voting ran at around 4%. That number is included in the 10% turnout at the polls today.

One group that increased its participation in the election process was the residents of the Road Home Shelter on Rio Grande Street. More voters came from the shelter than any other group in any neighborhood, calling it a "civic duty" and a "constitutional right."

Many experts believe whoever wins the republican senate primary will be the next US Senator from Utah. Utah has not sent a democrat to the capitol since 1970. This is the first time since 1992 that we are sending a different senator. Whoever wins will face local businessman Sam Granato, who like the republican candidate, has never held public office before.

Newcomer progressive Claudia Wright campaigned on Matheson's voting record, pointing out that he often seemed more republican than democrat by voting with democrats only 42% of the time. Matheson says he voted for what he thought was right for Utah. Matheson spent 37 times as much on his campaign as Wright did.

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Source: KSL News, Deseret News, Fox13News, Associated Press