Celeste Maloy wins Utah Republicans’ nomination for special congressional election
After five rounds of voting, GOP delegates chose Maloy over former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes to run in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District special election this fall.
Delta • Delta — population 3,500 — was the center of Utah’s political universe on Saturday.
The sleepy agricultural town in Millard County, which set the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest bunny hop in 2007, saw Celeste Maloy upset Greg Hughes in the race to replace Rep. Chris Stewart in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District. If no candidates are able to secure the 7,000 signatures to qualify for the primary, she will be the party nominee in November’s special election.
Hughes, a former Utah House Speaker, led after every round of voting except for the final ballot, which saw Maloy secure 52.1% of the vote for the win.
“Wow!,” Maloy, a former staffer in Stewart’s office, said shortly after defeating Hughes by 31 votes. “This feels surreal. This all happened really fast. It took a lot of hard work over the last two weeks, but it paid off.”
Former Utah GOP Vice Chairman Jordan Hess brought delegates to their feet as he threw his support behind Maloy prior to the fifth and final round of voting against Hughes. His late endorsement was what put her over the top as he had finished in third place in the voting until he was eliminated after the fourth round.
Maloy said the fact that she lives in the district, hailing from Southern Utah, was a major factor in her win over Hughes, who does not reside within the boundaries of the 2nd District.
“It made all the difference. I think the second district is ready to have a representative who lives off the Wasatch Front and lives in the district,” Maloy says.
Hughes was disappointed but sanguine following his second straight election loss — he failed to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2020.
“I’m not kicking myself right now. I never went into this race believing that my quality of life was going to be better, that this was going to be easy or fun. I knew it was going to be hard. I know the politics in Washington right now are so difficult. There’s a lot of expectations with these delegates about what they want,” Hughes said.
(Bryan Schott | The Salt Lake Tribune) Political signs outside Delta High School, where the Utah Republican Party hosted its 2023 special election convention on Saturday, June 24, 2023.
Saturday’s hastily scheduled special election followed Stewart’s decision to resign from Congress later this year. Stewart will leave the seat he has held since 2011 on Sept. 15, citing his wife’s ongoing health issues.
In nine days, we will know whether Maloy will have to gear up for a primary election in September. July 5 is the deadline for candidates who want to petition their way onto the ballot to turn in the needed 7,000 signatures.
Former state Rep. Becky Edwards says she is confident she wi7ll get enough signatures to qualify for the primary.
“We have enough (signatures) that I’m anticipating we’ll add another homegrown talent to the mix,” Edwards said. “And then we’ll have a primary with two women.”
At least three other Republicans, Bruce Hough, Scott Reber and Scott Hatfield, said they would take the signature-gathering path when they filed to run. Reber disavowed signature gathering during Saturday’s convention.
(Bryan Schott | The Salt Lake Tribune) Celeste Maloy after winning the Utah Republican Party’s congressional nomination on June 24, 2023. Maloy will run in special election this fall to replace outgoing-Rep. Chris Stewart.
The special election following the unexpected resignation of Rep. Jason Chaffetz in 2017 illustrates how politics has a way of scrambling expectations.
