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Saturday, November 7, 2026

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Senate Republicans pick Cedar City's Evan Vickers to lead the Utah Senate

House Republicans kept Mike Schultz as speaker and chose Casey Snider as majority leader. Vickers and Schultz are to be sworn in as presiding officers when the session opens Jan. 19.

AI illustration, not a photograph: a domed capitol building behind an autumn lawn with mountains behind
AI illustration: The Utah Ledger · Original graphic · The Utah Ledger

Cedar City

The new leadership teams

Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, is in line to become the next Utah Senate president after Senate Republicans chose him Friday night to succeed Senate President J. Stuart Adams. [1][2]

The Senate majority caucus also picked Sen. Chris Wilson as majority leader, Sen. Michael McKell as majority whip and Sen. Keven Stratton as assistant whip. [1]

House Republicans kept Speaker Mike Schultz and chose Rep. Casey Snider as majority leader, Rep. Candice Pierucci as majority whip and Rep. Cal Roberts as assistant whip. [1]

The House speaker and Senate president are formally sworn in when the 2027 general session begins Jan. 19. Senate Democrats on Friday kept Sen. Luz Escamilla as minority leader, with Sen. Karen Kwan as whip, Sen. Jen Plumb as assistant whip and Sen.-elect Silvia Catten as caucus manager. House Democrats are scheduled to choose their leaders Nov. 16. [1][3]

How the opening came about

Adams, president since 2019, lost his Republican primary in June to Sen.-elect Stephanie Hollist after criticism of his role in a Box Elder County data center project. [2][3]

The only other contender, Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, conceded his Senate District 19 race Friday to Democrat Shana Anderson, who leads by more than 3,600 votes in unofficial results. [2][4]

Vickers will be the first Senate president from southern Utah since Orval Hafen in 1957, according to the Tribune. A pharmacist who owns stores in Cedar City, he served two House terms from 2008 before winning a Senate seat in 2012, and was Senate majority leader from 2019 until 2025. [2]

Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George, said no one else filed to run against Vickers and called him an inclusive leader. "He lets the minority party have a voice," Ipson said. [2]

A smaller majority

The new leaders will run smaller majorities. Unofficial results show Democrats poised to break the House Republican supermajority for the first time since the late 1990s, while Republicans keep their supermajority in the Senate. Several longtime House Republicans trail Democratic challengers. [3][4]

Sources

4 cited, none of them a government record. Paragraphs carry [n] links to their sources.

  1. KUTV: Utah Majority Caucus elects new leadership, Nov. 6, 2026 kutv.com
  2. The Salt Lake Tribune: Blue wave cleared way for first southern Utah state Senate leader in 70 years, Nov. 6, 2026 sltrib.com
  3. KUER: Stuart Adams' primary loss shook up GOP leadership. Then came the midterms, Nov. 6, 2026 kuer.org
  4. KSL.com: Cullimore concedes Utah Senate race to Democrat who wants new leadership in both parties, Nov. 6, 2026 ksl.com

This story was written by AI from the report by KUTV, which has the full story. How we write stories.

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