Former Republican President Donald Trump is projected to win Utah for the third presidential election in a row, with 56.56% of the vote at 10:50 p.m.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, had 41.15% of the vote. A handful of third-party candidates earned no more than 1% of Utahns’ votes.
Results will continue to come in over the next couple of weeks.
“The reelection of President Trump is the most impactful and important election for the United States and, frankly, for the world,” said Utah Republican Party Chairman Rob Axson. “We need to have a change of administration, hard stop, in Utah.”
While the ex-president was expected to secure a win in the Beehive State by a solid margin, just how his share of Utah’s vote compares to the previous two presidential elections won’t be clear until the final ballots are counted in the coming days and state officials certify results Nov. 25.
Trump made one stop in Utah — the first since 2017 — while on the campaign trail, speaking to supporters at a fundraiser in a Salt Lake City International Airport hangar. The campaign’s planned fundraiser was canceled and rescheduled multiple times.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People arrive for the GOP election night watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Draper.
Utah Republican National Committeeman Brad Bonham said a Trump victory should be a wake-up call to Democrats.
“If in fact, [Trump] carries it, which it kind of looks like he‘s going to right now, I think [Democrats] are going to have to ask some hard questions,” Bonham said. “You’ve got to stop and be like, ‘whoa, something went really wrong for us.’”
In 2016, when independent candidate and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Evan McMullin challenged Trump, approximately 45.5% of Utah voters cast their ballots for Trump. That number rose to 58.13% in 2020.
When Utah Republicans were polled by the state GOP at caucus meetings this spring as to whom they wanted the party to nominate for president, 56.4% opted for Trump, compared to 42.7% for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Turnout at caucus meetings, however, was below 10% among active, registered Republicans. GOP lawmakers have on multiple occasions quashed legislative hearings on the Utah Republican Party’s chaotic Super Tuesday — with its low participation rate, long lines, questions about the poll’s integrity and allegations that it disenfranchised disabled Republicans.
Trump’s victory in Utah comes just over three months after Republican Gov. Spencer Cox endorsed the former president for the first time — an about-face from previous criticism.
His lieutenant governor and running mate, Deidre Henderson, declined to endorse anyone in the presidential race, saying, “I have a real struggle with people who do know better and should know better at the top of Republican politics, who are sowing doubt and chaos and confusion for political gain.”
Cox was criticized for sending a campaign email touting an appearance he made with Trump at Arlington National Cemetery in August. The governor later apologized.
