Celeste Maloy and Bruce Hough respond to concerns about Trump’s indictment, Ukraine spending in mild GOP debate

Debates have become part of the American political fabric, even if they don’t do much to move the electoral needle. There was so little disagreement between the candidates during Friday night’s Utah 2nd Congressional District face-off in Farmington it could spawn a debate over whether it could even be considered a debate.

Republicans Bruce Hough and Celeste Maloy spent a humdrum hour mostly agreeing with each other in front of about 100 people in the Farmington City Council chambers. Becky Edwards, the third candidate in the race, did not attend because she was campaigning in southern Utah.

Hough and Maloy tried to stick to their preferred topics of federal overreach, public lands and reining in government spending, but the full-capacity crowd was hungry to air grievances about the Department of Justice’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump and continuing funding for Ukraine.

“We are talking about a Department of Justice and FBI that is out of control and very corrupt,” North Salt Lake resident Kathy Sorensen said during the audience question and answer period. “And to me, as a citizen, I’m extremely upset and concerned they go after the Republican side. We can’t do anything. What are you going to do to change it and get that corruption out of our Department of Justice and the FBI so that we can have equal justice under the law?”

“We look like a third-world country when we investigate people who lose elections,” Maloy said in a post-debate interview. “We’re alienating people from the political process because it looks politically motivated.”

When asked to point out specific parts of the federal indictments against former President Donald Trump that she thought were politically motivated, she said she’d not read them because she had been on the campaign trail.

Hough said that he believed in accountability but wanted to make sure that there was “equal protection under the law” no matter who was being investigated.

“You have to have due process. If we’re not doing due process, then we are really messing up our duty as citizens to hold the government accountable,” Hough said.

Hough repeatedly pointed to what he felt was lenient legal treatment for Democrats instead of a much harsher environment for Republicans.

“I don’t want to relitigate every past thing,” Hough said before promptly relitigating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails, contending the issue should have led to the same kind of prosecution Trump is facing. He also brought up the current scandal surrounding Hunter Biden.

The other big concern for audience members was continued funding for Ukraine’s military to fend off the invasion by Russia.

Hough and Maloy applauded Ukraine’s military but said they would be reluctant to approve more funding without fully accounting for how those dollars are being spent.

Neither candidate did much to distinguish themselves from the other. For Maloy, the biggest difference is she has spent much of her life in Utah’s 2nd District, while Hough has not.

”I’m like the people here. I’ve worked with them. I’ve lived with them. That’s my identity,” Maloy said.

Hough threw the only rhetorical punch of the night, pointing out Maloy’s failure to cast a vote in several congressional elections.

“There’s a big difference in commitment. She didn’t vote in half of the last dozen elections. She literally didn’t show up to vote, even for her boss,” Hough said. “There are consequences to voting or not voting. What kind of Supreme Court would we have right now if Hillary Clinton had been elected? It would be, in my opinion, a disaster,” Hough said.

Nine similar events are scheduled over the coming weeks before Republicans vote in the Sept. 5 primary election to replace Rep. Chris Stewart in Congress. The winner of that primary will face state Sen. Kathleen Riebe in November’s special general election.