Former congressional staffer and 2023 special election victor U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy won her first full term in Congress early Wednesday.
After a bumpy nomination process for both the GOP and Democrats in Utah’s 2nd District, Maloy, a Republican, entered election night with the expectation she would finish with a sizable advantage over Democratic opponent Nathaniel Woodward.
As of 12:05 a.m. Wednesday, she held a hefty edge. Maloy had 59% of the vote, well ahead of Woodward’s 34%, according to unofficial early returns.
Utahns in the 2nd District chose Maloy in a special election last year to take over for her former boss, U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart. Once a public lands attorney, Maloy, with her deep ties in rural Utah and with county leaders, helped her capture her previous victory.
But after spending just a handful of months in her seat, the senior member of Utah’s federal delegation, Sen. Mike Lee, endorsed one of Maloy’s GOP challengers to take her place. Maloy earned just enough support from delegates at the Utah Republican Party convention to force a primary election against Colby Jenkins.
When the June primary rolled around, however and after securing an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, Maloy bested Jenkins by a slim margin — two-tenths of a percentage point, or 214 votes.
Jenkins mounted a legal battle to challenge the results, asking courts to allow ballots postmarked after to statutory deadline to be counted. His lawyers contended the ballots arrived late because mail from parts of southern Utah is shipped to Las Vegas for processing, causing some delays. The Utah Supreme Court rejected Jenkins’ appeal.
Woodward got a late start in the race after Democrats initially nominated Brian Adams, who asserted that protesters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 are “politically persecuted,” was critical of President Joe Biden and raised unfounded doubts about election security. After pressure from party members, Adams stepped aside.
Democrats’ replacement nominee filed to run at the end of May — several months after his Republican counterparts. Woodward has not filed any reports of money raised toward his campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission.
