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“Utah saw the biggest shift toward Democrats in the nation”

“Utah saw the biggest shift toward Democrats in the nation”

Last updated on: November 10, 2026 at 10:41 pm by Dan Peterson

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“Utah saw the biggest shift toward Democrats in the nation” 2026-11-10T22:41:09-07:00 Dan Peterson

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Filming a pivotal scene for the 2024 Interpreter Foundation film Six Days in August in which Brigham Young addresses a congregation of the Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, on 8 August 1844. (Photo supplied by James G. Jordan)

You can watch the newest installment of Becoming Brigham here: “On Whom Did Brigham Young Fully Rely? Becoming Brigham, Episode 42″ And you can subscribe here, at Becoming Brigham’s official website.

I continue to be surprised and a bit discouraged at how many people, even among our neighbors and among friends in our home stake, are completely unaware of the existence of Becoming Brigham. They’ve never so much as heard of it. They’re surprised to learn of it. (I try not to be self-promoting and obnoxious at church, so I don’t advertise it there. Which, of course, is a really unnatural strain for me.) So I ask your help: If you have enjoyed what we’re producing, please call it to the attention — in as gentle, casual, and natural way as possible — of family and friends and neighbors and ward members and stake associates and work colleagues and fellow temple workers and people standing beside you at the welfare cannery and hapless random passersby , and to the notice of anybody else that you think might appreciate it or benefit from it. We need your help to make this project known and to reach its desired audience. Thanks in advance!

The theatrical poster for the film. (Fair use)

My wife and I attended a screening of the new Angel Studios film Drummer Boy last night. I liked it considerably more than I had expected to do, and I commend it to you. Please be warned, though, that — at times — it’s a musical.

Fall foliage in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon, near Salt Lake City
(Wikimedia Commons photo by Scott Catron)

It’s that time of the year when it becomes appropriate to share one of my favorite poems. This one is by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), another in the long list of those who died too young, without having fulfilled even their mortal potential. (See yesterday’s blog entry, about Beethoven.) I want to note, because I love words and etymologies, that the German noun Herbst (“fall” or “autumn”) is obviously cognate with the English term harvest:

Herbsttag

Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr groß.
Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,
und auf den Fluren laß die Winde los.

Befiel den letzten Früchten voll zu sein;
gib ihnen noch zwei südlichere Tage,
dränge sie zur Vollendung hin und jage
die letzte Süße in den schweren Wein.

Wer jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr.
Wer jetzt allein ist, wird es lange bleiben,
wird wachen, lesen, lange Briefe schreiben
und wird in den Alleen hin und her
unruhig wandern, wenn die Blätter treiben.

The Logan Utah Temple in early fall (LDS.org)

I realize that most of this blog’s two readers are unlikely to read German, so here’s a workable English translation of “Herbsttag” by J. Mullen:

Autumn Day

Lord: it is time. The summer was great.
Lay your shadows onto the sundials
and let loose the winds upon the fields.

Command the last fruits to be full,
give them yet two more southern days,
urge them to perfection, and chase
the last sweetness into the heavy wine.

Who now has no house, builds no more.
Who is now alone, will long remain so,
will stay awake, read, write long letters
and will wander restlessly here and there
in the avenues, when the leaves drift.

I was very pleased, when we returned to Utah from a month in Europe about two weeks ago, to see that there were still leaves on the trees and that there was an abundance of greens and yellows and oranges and reds among the woods. It’s a favorite time of the year for me, and the drive up to Park City and back was even more enjoyable than it commonly is. I’m not especially fond of winter (especially once Christmas is past), but even the knowledge that winter is drawing inexorably nearer still can’t ruin autumn.

The Capitol of the United States (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

Deseret News: “Utah saw the biggest shift toward Democrats in the nation. Now Republicans are rethinking everything: Gov. Cox said elected officials must listen more to rebuild trust’

I confess that I’m really rather proud of the fact that’s mentioned above. I’m pleased that Utah led the way.

It’s not, though, the fact that Utah shifted toward the Democratic Party that makes me proud. That’s not my point. To make my stance very clear yet again, I didn’t vote for a single Democrat in the just-concluded election, and I’m actually quite unhappy that the Democrats now control the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States. I’m worried about the kind of harmful policies that a more left-leaning group of legislators is likely to enact and I’m displeased that the current administration’s judicial nominees (especially including any possible Supreme Court nominations) will now be required to clear a much more hostile Senate confirmation process.

What pleases me, and what makes me proud of my adopted home state, is the richly deserved rebuke that was administered to the Republican Party, which, to the extent that it wasn’t itself thoroughly MAGAfied, was servile and supine, betraying conservative principles of governance and conduct. I agree with David French, one of the token conservatives at the New York Times: “MAGA Finally Gets What It Deserves.” I also agree with Andrew McCarthy’s devastating analysis for National Review: “The GOP’s Midterm Annihilation Comes Down to One Factor: It’s not a single policy, even if there is no gainsaying the significance of the Iran war and the tariffs.”

This defeat may, unfortunately, have been the best possible thing that could have happened for the American conservative movement. It will take years to recover from the recent cataclysm, but no recovery will be possible at all until the boil is lanced. That process hasn’t yet been completed, but Tuesday’s election was an enormous step forward in the surgery.

Now let the angry insults begin.

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