The number of votes separating Utah’s 2nd Congressional District Rep. Celeste Maloy and her GOP challenger, Colby Jenkins, further diminished Friday afternoon to 382 as counties inched closer to finishing processing ballots, according to unofficial tallies.
Now, the difference between the two candidates sits at just over a third of a percentage point. Under Utah law, if Maloy or Jenkins finishes with a lead smaller than a quarter of a percentage point, the losing candidate may request a recount.
Several of the district’s most rural counties have yet to update vote counts since shortly after polls closed Tuesday night. More results are expected Monday afternoon.
“There are nearly 53,000 members of our A-Team whose voices remain strong and hopeful to see victory still,” Jenkins said in a social media post after more ballots were processed Friday afternoon.
Elections officials have so far tallied 105,858 ballots, with 53,120, or 50.18%, going for Maloy.
June 27, 5:07 p.m.
Rep. Celeste Maloy’s lead over Colby Jenkins in Utah’s Republican 2nd Congressional District primary election was nearly halved on Thursday evening, according to the updated ballot count.
On Wednesday, the gap between Maloy and Jenkins was 1,907 votes. It now stands at just 991 votes.
Jenkins now have 51,292 votes, or 49.52%, to Maloy’s 52,283 votes, amounting to 50.48%.
June 26, 5:45 p.m.
The slender lead held by six-month incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District continued to sliver Wednesday as more ballots were processed, according to early, unofficial returns published by the lieutenant governor’s office.
Approaching 24 hour after polls closing, Republican primary election challenger Colby Jenkins’ difference narrowed to less than three percentage points — just over 1,900 votes. The candidates finished Tuesday night with just less than four percentage points separating them.
Per returns published Wednesday afternoon, 51.03% of the votes counted were for Maloy, and 48.97% were for Jenkins, with the race remaining too close to call.
The 2nd District chose Maloy as its representative in a special election last November after she won a GOP primary and Utah Republican delegates’ support. Approximately 93,410 votes were counted in last year’s special primary election and 92,355 have been counted so far in this year’s contest.
In a statement posted Wednesday morning to X, Jenkins, a former U.S. Army officer, said, “Because the results are still very close and there are several thousand outstanding ballots to be counted, we are looking forward to watching as more updates come in. … We will make additional comments as more updates come in and when the final outcome becomes clear.”
Before leaving her election night party Tuesday to catch a red-eye flight to Washington, Maloy told The Salt Lake Tribune, “I like the way the numbers are trending right now, but I’m naturally cautious and I’m not gong to get ahead of the numbers.”
Just before the state GOP nominating convention, where Jenkins beat out Maloy and the latter secured barely enough delegate votes to make the ballot, the senior member of Utah’s federal delegation threw his support behind the newcomer. Sen. Mike Lee had taken issue with Maloy’s votes to extend a revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and her working across the aisle to pass a federal budget.
Maloy, whose last job was working as her predecessor Chris Stewart’s legal counsel, won her own heavyweight endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Her Utah colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives have also endorsed Maloy for reelection.
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