SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Salt Lake City councilman Derek Kitchen is leading in the Utah Democratic primary race to replace outspoken and well-known Sen. Jim Dabakis in one of the state Senate’s most liberal districts.
Kitchen said Wednesday he thinks he’s likely to win but his opponent, physician Jennifer Plumb, has not conceded. Plumb acknowledged that she is unlikely to win.
The 29-year-old Kitchen rose to local fame after a lawsuit he filed led a judge to overturn Utah’s prohibition on same-sex marriage in 2013.
If he wins the seat, Kitchen would become the only openly gay lawmaker in the state legislator. The retiring Dabakis held that distinction for years.
Dabakis endorsed Kitchen.
Kitchen says he shares Dabakis’s ideology but doesn’t plan to mimic his outsized personality.
The Democratic nominee will face Republican software company executive Chase Winder in November.
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