Posted on 09/06/2023 12:39:55 PM PDT by cotton1706
A distinct urban-rural divide left a Utah special congressional primary race between a Donald Trump critic and supporter too early to call Tuesday in a tight race that will likely produce the replacement for U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart.
The GOP special primary to replace Stewart saw Celeste Maloy, who was Stewart’s chief legal counsel and has his endorsement, with a narrow lead over former state lawmaker Becky Edwards late Tuesday.
Edwards, a Trump critic, was leading in two urban counties, but Maloy, a Trump supporter, overtook her with strength from rural areas that make up the rest of the sprawling district that stretches from the northern part of the Salt Lake City area to cover much of southern and western Utah. Votes yet to be counted included thousands of mail-in ballots arriving over the next two weeks.
The race was expected to provide a window into how Republican voters feel about a string of indictments against the former president as he seeks another term.
Maloy said in a statement she was feeling optimistic and with momentum while acknowledging that it was too close to call. She touted her advantage in rural parts of the district after telling KUTV earlier in the night that rural Utah feels “under-represented.”
“As we predicted, southern and rural Utah came in strong,” Maloy said. “We ran a positive race focused on policy and issues and that clearly resonated with the voters. While victory is not yet at hand, we are confident a conservative from the district will represent CD-2.”
After seeing her early lead evaporate, Edwards briefly thanked supporters and ended an election night party in Salt Lake City. As they chanted, “Becky, Becky,” Edwards said she felt optimistic but would have to wait for more vote counting.
(Excerpt) Read more at federalnewsnetwork.com ...
“Votes yet to be counted included thousands of mail-in ballots arriving over the next two weeks.”
Guess what happens.
Edwards, a Trump critic, was leading in two urban counties
This issue is getting worse and worse by the day. Liberals moving into locations that were once solid Red and tilting the scales. Happening all over the South and Texas.
The urban voters, like they do in Cali, NY, Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, Illinois will soon outnumber the folks in the burbs and country, thus drowning out the suburban/rural votes and their ability to elect people more in line with their values.
These things happen when you have guys like Romney, Lee and the current Governor falling in love with the tech industry and doing what they can to lure every West Coast liberal to Utah. Same things are happening in Boise. Was happening in Montana, but it appears that Montanans finally had a bellyful and showed up to run some Leftists out offices.
Thought they were all Magic Underwear folk?
Can’t they all just get along?
Or do even the Holy Desert Dwellers have a simple Rural Independent vs Subsidized City divide?
Can Democrat voters invade the Republican primary?
Becky is Mitt in a skirt.
“Can Democrat voters invade the Republican primary?”
Quite easily since it was an open primary — ALL primaries EVERYWHERE are effectively “open” nowadays, as anyone who was paying any attention in 2022 is aware.
Of course Republicans can vote in Democrat primaries too, but in this case there was no Democrat primary. They selected their nominee at a party convention.
At the GOP convention, the Trump-hating liberal finished SIXTH. But she got on the primary ballot anyway by collecting signatures (mostly from Democrats, probably) and — here’s a real shocker — the liberal Republican had a lot more money to work with than the conservative Republican did.
The GOP establishment candidates pretty much always have that advantage, somehow.
BTW this district is easily the most Democrat-friendly of the four U.S. House districts in Utah. But even if the conservative does win the primary, she *should* be able to win the general. The loony left will rejoice when she wins by far less than the incumbent did in 2022 however — and pretend it’s an omen for a GOP rout in 2024 — but a win is a win and a liberal “moral victory” doesn’t count for shit.
“Votes yet to be counted included thousands of mail-in ballots arriving over the next two weeks.”
I saw this and laughed.
Well l can’t say l laughed. Utah is very red yet here we are post election vote counting when they know exactly how many votes are needed change the outcome. 4 years ago it was illegal for that reason. The entire country of France mandates that it is 100% done on Election Day. Our elections are no longer elections
Mallot wins. BIG sigh of relief. There should not have been 2 conservatives in this race and Trump should have made an endorsement.
Many of Trump's endorsements have been lousy. For example, most of his "electable MAGA" candidates who won their primaries in 2022 thanks to Trump's blessing, went on to get crushed in November. Remember how "electable" Dr. Oz was against the Munsters Family member reject?
On the other hand, it's a Utah congressional seat, so it SHOULD be ULTRA safe...
Maloy. Edwards is a Demonrat Pedobot who has no business running as a Republican.
👍
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