This is an old news article from a previous year. The results in this article are from the State of Utah’s 2023 primary elections. To read the election results from 2024, go to 2024 Primary Election Results for the State of Utah.
(September 6, 2023) — After a 97-day whirlwind of a race, Celeste Maloy has gained a 2% lead over Becky Edwards in the Republican primary election results. The election will decide who replaces Chris Stewart, who announced his retirement in May after being the Second Congressional District’s Representative for 12 years.
As of 6:25 p.m., Maloy has 38.3% of the vote, just a narrow lead over Edwards at 35.1%, with Hough trailing behind at 26.6%. Unofficial state tallies as reported by the Lieutenant Governor’s office are Celeste Maloy 29335, Becky Edwards 26904, Bruce Hough 20332.
Maloy is the projected winner of the election.
An Intense Race
This has been an intense race, with experts saying only a week before the election that it was anyone’s guess who would be the winner.
Each candidate took a different strategy in their campaigning. According to Derek Brown, Deseret News correspondent, “Bruce Hough has tried to ‘clear a lane’ for himself as the conservative in the race, Becky Edwards has branded herself as a ‘Common Sense Conservative’ and has high name ID, while Celeste Maloy has leaned on her endorsements from local leaders as well as her policy prowess to make her case to rural voters.”
The race between Celeste Maloy and Becky Edwards was extremely close, so much so that around 10:00 p.m., before many of the rural votes began to come in, they were within 1 percentage point of each other.
Edwards gained an early lead as votes from Davis and Salt Lake counties began coming in, where she had over a 20% lead.
Maloy said that from the beginning has focused her campaign on the rural areas, and now it is paying off. “I always knew Salt Lake and Davis Counties would be tough for me,” Maloy told the Deseret News. “I decided early on to have a rural strategy and make sure they felt heard, and seen, and represented, and I think it’s working.”
Most outstanding votes to be counted, almost 13,000, are in Washington County, but Celeste Maloy has reason to be optimistic.
“I don’t have any inside information, but with most of the outstanding ballots being in Washington County, I think I have reason to be optimistic.” Maloy told the Deseret News. “I just think we’ve set a different standard from now on. Races are going to have to pay more attention to rural Utah, probably statewide, and definitely this district is going to have to spend more time focusing on southern Utah, and I think that’s a good thing.”
Maloy currently has 44% of the vote in Washington.
Unofficial Results
At this point, about 82% of the votes are in, and the rest will be coming in by September 15. The office of Utah Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson, who oversees elections, will hold an official certification of election results on September 22.
Here is how the current unofficial numbers add up for Wayne, Piute and Garfield counties.
| Celeste Maloy | Becky Edwards | Bruce Hough | |
| Wayne | 389 (57%) | 156 (23%) | 136 (20%) |
| Piute | 343 (76%) | 40 (9%) | 70 (15%) |
| Garfield | 802 (73%) | 178 (16%) | 116 (11%) |
The 2nd Congressional District is considered a safe Republican seat by the National Republican Congressional Committee. Nevertheless, the winner of this year’s primary will have to contend with Democratic candidate Kathleen Reibe and any other nominees from Utah’s registered parties.
The general election will take place November 21, 2023.
Other Elections
On local elections Preliminary Boulder Town Council results as of September 5 are as follows: Josh Ellis 51, Cynthia Wilson 30, Jim Catmull 47, Mark M. Austin 22, John M. Veranth 69.
There were no other Municipal Elections held in Garfield, Piute, or Wayne Counties.
Final results will be pending ballots that are currently in the mail and will be determined on September 15th.
– The Byway