Celeste Maloy wins 2nd Congressional District GOP primary, Edwards concedes
Sep 6, 2023, 5:37 PM | Updated: Oct 17, 2023, 9:20 am
FILE: Celeste Maloy, then-candidate Utah's 2nd Congressional District, at a campaign event in 2023. New research shows that Utah elected more women in the last year, but the state lags national average. (Nick Adams, Deseret News)
(Nick Adams, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Becky Edwards has conceded the race in the 2nd Congressional District GOP primary. That announcement came early Wednesday evening.
While there remain ballots to be counted, we have come up short in this race.
As our campaign comes to a close, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you. pic.twitter.com/UdJ6jVqE45
— Becky Edwards (@beckyforutah) September 6, 2023
Edwards’ announcement comes shortly after the latest batch of results released Wednesday afternoon showed Celese Maloy’s lead had grown in the race to replace Rep. Chris Stewart.
By early Wednesday evening, Maloy’s lead had grown to nearly 2,500 votes.
#BREAKING @CelesteMaloyUT‘s lead has grown by about 1k votes in the race to replace Rep. Chris Stewart.
2,431 votes now separates her from @beckyforutah.
There are 2,600 outstanding CD2 ballots in SLCo, per @lannieforclerk.
It doesn’t appear Edwards has a path.@kslnewsradio pic.twitter.com/hbJJUqkYwq
— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) September 6, 2023
Reaction from Maloy
Maloy issued a statement Wednesday evening on her primary win.
“I am both humbled, and honored, to receive this vote of confidence from Utah’s 2nd congressional district.
“The past three months have been nothing short of incredible, and I couldn’t have done it without my family, an amazing campaign team, and the support of leaders like Congressman Chris Stewart.
“I respect anyone who is willing to throw their hat into the arena and run for office.”
Hough wishes Maloy the best of luck
Bruce Hough also issued a statement Wednesday night, congratulating Maloy on her win.
“First, I want to thank my wonderful wife and children for supporting me in this endeavor. I also want to extend my sincere thanks to all of those that believed in me enough to support, volunteer, or vote for me. This was a wonderful experience.
“I congratulate Celeste on her projected victory. I enjoyed our time together on the campaign trail as we debated in 11 of the counties in the district.
“She will provide the citizens of the 2nd district with excellent representation. I support her 100% as she moves forward to the general election.”
These results do not include Salt Lake and Washington counties, two of the largest counties in the state. Those counts are expected on Thursday.
KSL NewsRadio has learned there are about 2,600 ballots left to count in Salt Lake County.
And there are more than 12,000 ballots to count in Washington County. It is not clear how many of those Washington County ballots are Republicans voting in the 2nd Congressional District primary.
The number of ballots left to count in the race to replace Rep. Chris Stewart signals that Becky Edwards can’t regain the lead over Celeste Maloy.
This story will be updated.
Related: Everything you need to know about the Race to Replace Chris Stewart
