This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In a special election Saturday, Utah County Republican Party delegates chose Keven Stratton to represent House District 58 in the Utah Legislature for the rest of the year.
Stratton is serving the remaining term of former Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, who gave up his seat for an unsuccessful congressional bid. The two-year seat will go before voters in the fall.
Stratton was among seven candidates seeking the Orem Republican's post. Delegates from District 58 met Saturday at Orchard Elementary School to choose Sandstrom's successor.
According to his campaign website, Stratton has owned small businesses in Utah County for the past 25 years. He has also worked as a real-estate, business and estate-planning attorney. He was also a former chairman and board member of the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce. Stratton and his wife, Laurie, have been married for nearly 28 years and have eight children.
"I'm grateful and humbled by the honor of being selected to become the interim Representative for District 58," he said in an email Saturday evening. "The delegates as representatives of the voters have placed their trust in me and I'm ready to go to work."
At the state GOP convention this month, Sandstrom lost his bid for the U.S. House to Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love, who will be the Republican nominee and take on Jim Matheson, a six-term Democrat, for Utah's new 4th Congressional District. Carl Wimmer, another outspoken conservative in the Utah House, also gave up his seat in a unsuccessful shot at the 4th District nomination.