Utah Republican House Primary Still Undecided After Third Day of Ballot Counting

Voters enter a polling location on primary election day, in Provo, Utah, on March 5, 2024. (George Frey/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Green Beret and tech executive Colby Jenkins has inched within 1,000 votes of incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) with thousands more to count as their June 25 Utah Republican Congressional primary remained too close to call two days after polls closed.

As of 6:15 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (MST) on June 27, Ms., Maloy had 52,283 votes to Mr. Jenkins’ 51,292, a 1 percentage-point difference of 991 votes, according to the Utah Lieutenant Governor Office’s elections website.

The delays stemmed from ballot adjudications in the 13-county Congressional District 2, which stretches from Salt Lake City across southwest Utah, primarily in Salt Lake, Davis, and Washington counties.

Before votes are tabulated, ballots are run through scanners, converting them into “cast vote records.” The scanners set aside ballots they cannot decipher for review or adjudication.

That process delayed about a third of the ballot tabulation in Salt Lake County, where as many as 16,000 ballots were still being tabulated, Salt Lake Country Clerk Lannie Chapman reported, as well as in Davis and Washington counties.

Ms. Maloy had a 5-percentage point lead as returns were posted in the hours immediately after polls closed at 8 p.m. on June 25.

By 11 p.m. election night, nearly 80,000 ballots had been tabulated with more than 80 percent of precincts reporting.

Then the tabulation and reported results began to trickle in with no updates posted for hours at a time. As of 6:15 p.m. June 27, the ballot tally was 103,575.

Ms. Maloy was leading in 10 of the 13 counties, including Salt Lake, Beaver, and Garfield. Mr. Jenkins had a substantial advantage in Washington County, where both candidates live.

The Maloy–Jenkins contest, among the nation’s most closely-watched races between an incumbent and a fellow-party rival, remains the only undecided contest on the June 25 primary slate.

Ms. Maloy, a land-use attorney narrowly voted into the House in a November 2023 special election following Rep. Chris Stewart’s (R-Utah) resignation, is endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Mr. Jenkins, a West Point graduate, former Joint Chiefs of Staff adviser, and Google executive, maintains he’s best suited to move a conservative agenda forward in a second Trump administration. He was endorsed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

“Stay tuned! It is not over yet!” Mr. Jenkins said in a 5:30 p.m. X post.

The winner will be the overwhelming favorite to roll past Nathaniel Woodward, a Democrat, the Constitution Party’s Cassie Easley, and unaffiliated Tyler Murset in November.

In CD 3, state Sen. Mike Kennedy, a physician and attorney, dominated a five-candidate scrum to secure the party’s November berth for the House seat being vacated by Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), who won his June 25 GOP U.S. Senate primary race to succeed the retiring Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Mr. Kennedy will face former Summit County councilman and Vietnam veteran Glenn Wright, who Mr. Curtis defeated with 66.5 percent of the vote in 2022. A Democrat hasn’t been elected in CD 3 since 1996.

Two-term incumbent Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) brushed off a nominal challenge from electrician Paul Miller in his CD 1 primary.

He’s projected to secure a third House stint in the fall’s election against accountant Bill Campbell, a GOP 2022 CD 1 candidate running as a Democrat, and Libertarian Daniel Cottam, a surgeon and 2020 gubernatorial candidate.

In CD 4, two-term Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) didn’t face a primary contender. The district’s November slate is set with Katrina Fallick-Wang, a Democrat, and the United Utah Party’s Vaughn Cook as heavy underdogs.