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Freshman state Rep. Lee Perry darkly jokes that it is "a cool freshman prank" that senior legislators played on him and fellow freshman Rep. Brad Galvez. And a state lawmaker who oversaw redistricting laments that the situation probably isn't fair.

But those two Republicans are the only incumbents forced to run against each other in a combined, redrawn House district in the upcoming June 26 primary — leading to a hard-fought, close campaign where about half the new district is in Weber County, where Galvez lives, and half in Box Elder County, the home of Perry.

"I don't know that it was fair to them," says Rep. Ken Sumsion, R-American Fork, a defeated gubernatorial candidate who was the House chairman of the Redistricting Committee last year. He says the population in districts of more senior northern Utah lawmakers grew more slowly than those of Perry and Galvez, so maybe some of them should have been combined instead of the two freshmen.

"Galvez's [old] House seat was the biggest-populated House seat in the area. So going into this [redistricting], Brad Galvez thought he had no problem whatsoever" with the once-a-decade changes aimed at ensuring districts have equal population, Sumsion said.

But when northern Utah was forced to give up seats to faster-growing Utah and Washington counties, self-preservation kicked in.

GOP lawmakers in the northern region were allowed to work out among themselves how to eliminate a district there, Sumsion said. Most options he heard discussed all involved freshmen, as more senior lawmakers seemed to help each other. In the end, Galvez — despite his old district's large size — and Perry were put in the same new district.

"My gut feeling tells me there were some really good politics going on," Sumsion says.

A few other incumbents statewide were combined also, but one or both in most such races withdrew or sought other offices, leaving only Perry and Galvez as battling incumbents in the primary. One pair of incumbents from opposing parties — Reps. Fred Cox, R-West Valley City, and Janice Fisher, D-West Valley City — will face each other in the general election. Perry and Galvez each see an advantage for the other in the contest for the new district.

"Weber County has about 4,000 more people in the district," says Perry, R-Perry (the town is named for his forbearers), who lives in Box Elder County. However, Galvez, R-West Haven, who lives in Weber, says, "When you look at registered Republican voters, it is about even" with maybe more Republicans in Box Elder — which is what matters in the upcoming GOP primary.

Both say they are working hard to shore up support in old and new areas of the district. They are also trying to draw differences between each other and fight hard, which is made more difficult by the fact they are friends and similarly minded Republicans.

"It's interesting campaigning and being asked who the incumbent is and you say, 'We're both the incumbents,' " says Perry, who unseated an incumbent two years ago, former Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corrinne.

Galvez, who won an open seat two years ago, says, "We've tried to be, and are, friends because we work together in the Legislature. But this is hard fought. We both want to win."

Both are using their professional backgrounds to make the biggest distinctions between themselves.

Galvez, a commercial real estate developer of shopping centers and office buildings, says his experience makes him most able to help create jobs and strengthen the economy.

"I have been involved in small business and economic development. That's my whole career. I understand what business and the economy are," he says. "My opponent is a government employee."

Perry is a lieutenant with the Utah Highway Patrol.

"Currently, I am the only full-time law enforcement officer that serves in our citizen Legislature," he says. "So I bring a perspective to legislation that a lot of different legislators turn to and ask for my expertise." And he criticized Galvez for supporting a bill that would do away with drunken-driving checkpoints.

Whoever wins the GOP nomination in the race will face Democrat Heidi Britton in the general election.