Mike Lee Wins the Closest Utah Senate Race in Decades
Mike Lee won 55.4% of the vote in Utah, with a final count of 400,795 votes. Evan McMullin won 41% of the vote, with a count of 296,827. Lee easily won in Garfield County.
In the end McMullin conceded the race to Lee by 11 p.m.
Early Results
On Tuesday night Deseret News reported that Mike Lee had gained an initial lead over Evan McMullin in the Utah Senate race.
As of 9:38 p.m. Tuesday Associated Press showed Lee having 53.2% of the vote. McMullin had 43.4%. However, only 47% of the state had reported, leaving Iron County among the unreported precincts.
Deseret News wrote that the race was “one of the most intriguing Senate races in the country as well as the most competitive in Utah in decades.”
Indeed there have been many surprises in this Senatorial election.
The candidates have attacked each other quite aggressively through debates, ads and twitter battles. And they spent a combined $31 million dollars doing it, likely exceeding the price of any previous election campaign in the state.
McMullin also gained the backing of the Democratic Party in Utah, allowing him to pull together a mixed group of supporters from proclaimed Democrats to what he called “Principled” Republicans.
– The Byway
Feature image caption: Mike Lee greeting the candidates during the initial debate for Republican senator. June 2022. Courtesy Trent Nelson/Salt Lake Tribune.