The flip of a half-dollar coin broke a tie between two Republican candidates running in a special election to represent West Jordan in the Utah House.
Cheryl Acton and Lyle Decker lined up for the fateful flip Thursday night after splitting votes of 52 GOP delegates in a second round of voting. Acton won with her heads call when the coin landed with President John F. Kennedy’s image facing up.
“I’m thrilled,” she said Friday. “I really have things to learn.”
Acton, 53, said she felt like she was standing on a basketball court as county Republican officials tossed the 50-cent piece. She’ll be sworn in next week after appointment by the governor.
Acton replaces Rep. Adam Gardiner, who resigned after he was selected to become the Salt Lake County recorder last month. Longtime recorder Gary Ott stepped down from that post because of mental-health issues.
Acton goes from being a freelance writer and “stay-at-home mom” to legislator, joining 74 colleagues in the House as it convenes next week for a special session to address lingering issues related to homelessness and the law-enforcement crackdown in the Rio Grande area of Salt Lake City.
She has served as a precinct chairwoman in the party and said she hadn’t previously considered running for legislative office. Acton said she’d plan to run for the seat again when it’s on the ballot in 2018, and that she’d be a voice for “freedom and civility” in the Republican-dominated Legislature.
“Freedom was the message of my speech and my campaign,” Acton said. “There’s so many impediments to just living your life that I think the government, through regulations and bad legislation and so forth, I think legislators don’t realize when they’re passing those things that it really does affect people.”