AHC: Utah a blue/purple state

Your challenge, would you choose to accept it, is to make Utah, arguably themidst conservative state - a Democratic-leaning or battleground state with a POD no earlier than the 1966 midterms. Bonus if Utah is much more moderate than in OTL.
 
The Republicans do something to seriously piss off the Mormon elite during the late 19th Century.

When Utah is eventually admitted they vote for Democratic candidates in much the same way as the Solid South but stay Democratic unlike the South in the late 20th Century.

To this day they still elect reliable Democrats, but Democrats who are as reliably conservative as the OTL Utah politicians.
 
The Republicans do something to seriously piss off the Mormon elite during the late 19th Century.

When Utah is eventually admitted they vote for Democratic candidates in much the same way as the Solid South but stay Democratic unlike the South in the late 20th Century.

To this day they still elect reliable Democrats, but Democrats who are as reliably conservative as the OTL Utah politicians.

PODs have to be after 1966.
 
Johnson and many liberal Democrats get into a big scandal in 1967 and disgrace the liberal faction of the Democrat Party. The Dixiecrats make a comeback, and the Democrat liberals join the liberals in the Republican Party, angering many conservative Republicans. After some intraparty battles, the liberals end out victorious, and the conservative Republicans jump boat to the Democrat Party, and Utah votes Democrat to this day.
 
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Have some event lead to a large amount of immigration (like how various Asian groups fled to the States in the mid-20th century) and focus it to Utah, specifically Salt Lake City and the other few proper cities.
 
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Johnson and many liberal Democrats get into a big scandal in 1967 and disgrace the liberal faction of the Democrat Party. The Dixiecrats make a comeback, and the liberals move into the Republican Party, angering many conservative Republicans. After some intraparty battles, the liberals end out victorious, and the conservative Republicans jump boat to the Democrat Party, and Utah votes Democrat to this day.
The question is, is it still possible for liberal Republicans to regain control of the GOP? If so, who would carry out this golden mission?

Have some event lead to a large amount of immigration (like how various Asian groups feld to the States in the mid-2oth century) and focus it to Utah, specifically Salt Lake City and the other few proper cities.
While this must happen before my POD, I've always been interesting in any post-1900 PODs that could make Mormons the minority in Utah:p
 
How about a split in the Mormon Church, perhaps over the race issue? Maybe the mainline church refuses to allow black priests, and several more liberal (or at least far-sighted) members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles declare the church president a heretic and false prophet. The Church then splits into two competing factions, with small amounts of sectarian violence. The instability leads to greater interest of many Mormons in both conversion away from the faith and in fundamentalist sects. Without a strong, Republican-leaning Mormon Church, and with a significant splinter sect that identifies itself in some sense with social progressivism (the Mormon Church's most liberal members would join this sect, leading to a more liberal institution broadly), Utah might resemble other mountain states like Colorado politically.
 

d32123

Banned
Make Salt Lake City much bigger and more influential in Utah politics. Increase Hispanic immigration as well as interstate immigration to Utah. Figure out a way to reduce Mormon fertility rates. A combination of these three factors should give you a much more moderate Utah.
 
Increase Hispanic immigration as well as interstate immigration to Utah.

Maybe have the early software industry start in Salt Lake City. Perhaps one of the early software pioneers is a Mormon billionaire. He then uses his influence to persuade Mormon banking interests to loan money to Salt Lake City software start ups.

A certain number succeed and attract more highly educated employees and other entrepeneurs from California. In addition, the software pioneer encourages the state of Utah to make the University of Utah a technological competitor to Stanford. Most of the professors and a certain number of the students will be out of staters and mostly liberal.

Mormon banks "make bank" on the software tycoon's lead and the University of Utah eventually competes with Stanford and Cal Tech in some areas. But.... liberal immigration to Utah starts a generation earlier. As most of these transfers are higly educated, they become astutely politically involved early.
 
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Biological hazard wipes out the population of Utah in 1966, maybe it's weaponized smallpox deployed by a crazy anti-mormon from the CDC. The area is eventually resettled by blacks and hispanics hoping to escape discrimination in the South and South-West, as well as discontented lib. democrats from the East Coast.

Too ASB?

Someone in the Republican Party (preferably a President, Nixon would be best) comes out as being vehemently anti-Mormon, and has several high ranking republicans on tape agreeing with him (whether they are sincere in their agreement is another matter). This causes a large Mormon backlash, perhaps splitting their votes between Republicans and Dems ever since, with both parties solidifying their hold over their section of the Mormons. The Democrat slowly build a lead as the state progresses more and more towards the left, and as more immigration occurs.

You could also have the Mormons all be deported to the big island in New Caledonia! Operation Eagle Claw! (TL-191 continuation reference)
 
PODs have to be after 1966.

Uh, in the timeline I come from, AD begins with the, uh, assassination of Gaius Gracchus. Yeah, that's my story and I am sticking to it.

So AD (In the year of Our Lord Gracchus' Death) 1966 is actually 1845 or os in your conventional counting system.

You buy that answer, right?
 
The question is, is it still possible for liberal Republicans to regain control of the GOP? If so, who would carry out this golden mission?

Nixon as 1968 Republican presidential nominee might gain liberal votes instead of southern votes because the Dixiecrats made a comeback in the Democrat party. He might lead the liberals because OTL he was pretty liberal: he continued the Johnson reforms and the Civil Rights Act, and started the Environmental Protection Agency.

But in my case Utah might become solid Democratic instead of Democratic-leaning or swing state.
 
While this must happen before my POD, I've always been interesting in any post-1900 PODs that could make Mormons the minority in Utah:p

Well, if Utah was as big as it used to be, let alone was given the full territory it wanted, it would be.

Alternatively you could have a Federal government that decides it really does'nt like the Mormons so offers incentives for non-Mormons to immigrate to Utah Territory and not give it Statehood until Mormons comprise less than half the population.
 
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