Congressman Jason Chaffetz has two challengers to his seat in Utah’s Third Congressional District.
At the state Republican convention on Saturday, BYU Professor Chia-Chi Teng called Chaffetz part of the DC establishment, pointing to his vote for a trillion-dollar spending bill.
“Ted Cruz and Mike Lee didn’t vote for it,” Teng said in a speech to Republican delegates. “Neither did Marco Rubio. But Mr. Chaffetz did. Growing the size of government, adding to the debt, and killing jobs.”
Teng only received 35% of delegate votes but has already guaranteed himself a spot on the primary ballot by gathering the required 7,000 signatures.
The Democratic nominee for the seat will be Army veteran and former Overstock.com executive Stephen Tryon. In a speech to Democratic delegates on Saturday, Tryon attacked Chaffetz’ use of a misleading chart during a hearing with the President of Planned Parenthood.
“I’m embarrassed that we have a congressman who gets the Politifact ‘Pants on Fire’ Award for using misleading slides in congressional hearings to make a political point,” Tryon said.
But Chaffetz defended his work in Congress and as chair of the House Oversight Committee to Republican delegates.
“Eighteen of the 20 people that we’ve called upon to be pushed out of office no longer serve in the United States government,” Chaffetz said. “The head of the DEA, the head of the Secret Service. The reason you know about the scandals at the Secret Service is because of what we’ve done.”
Chaffetz won 64% of delegate votes at Saturday’s convention, but because of recent election law changes, he will face Teng in the Republican primary in June.
