Utah Republican voters stuck with the incumbents in the 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts, giving both Blake Moore and Celeste Maloy primary victories.
Both U.S. House Representatives faced right-flank challengers in popular state legislator Karriane Lisonbee and delegate darling Phil Lyman, respectively.
Moore turned aside Lisonbee, the Associated Press called the race at 8:41 p.m., and Malloy finished ahead of Lyman earlier when the AP called the race at 8:35 p.m.
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Holding on to the nomination will allow Moore the chance to stay in his role in Republican leadership as vice-chair of the House Republican Conference. Both Moore and Maloy received endorsements from President Donald Trump.
Jabs thrown between candidates in the race to represent the state’s north revolved around where Moore lived, his role in the redistricting fight, data centers, accusations of insider trading and last-minute campaign mailers.
Lisonbee easily won the GOP convention with 61.5% of the delegates’ vote over Moore. She now finds herself in the pool of candidates who win hearts at the convention but then falter with voters at the ballot box. Lisonbee has been a well-known conservative voice in the Legislature; she sits on several committees and has served in the Utah House since 2017, though she will leave office in January.
Moore will face Democrat Peter Crosby in November. Crosby ran uncontested in the primary.
Maloy’s victory in the 3rd Congressional District, the largest of Utah’s districts by geographic size, including much of rural Utah, will pit her against another uncontested Democratic candidate, Kent Udell, in the midterms.
In essence, Maloy and Lyman represented two different lanes of Utah Republicans. Maloy positioned herself as someone with experience as the district’s voice in Washington, D.C., while Lyman tapped into a mindset more skeptical of establishment politics. Those differences were also their greatest assets, with Lyman’s small-town, anti-establishment bona fides a big selling point for many, while Maloy leaned heavily on her experience. Both candidates support President Trump — but didn’t talk about him much on the campaign trail.
Maloy emerged with a slim majority of support after a tight battle at April’s Utah GOP Nominating Convention, but not enough to eliminate Lyman from contention.
