Rep. Celeste Maloy maintains lead over Colby Jenkins (2024)

Early results showed Rep. Celeste Maloy maintained a lead over her challenger Colby Jenkins on Tuesday night in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District GOP primary race.

As of midnight, Maloy, the incumbent, was ahead 52% percent to 48% percent with 84% of the votes in. The 2nd District includes the western parts of the state, as well as parts of Salt Lake City and Davis County.

If elected, this will be Maloy’s first full-term in office after she won a special election in 2023. The congressional seat opened up after former Congressman Chris Stewart resigned to care for his wife.

In a short address to her supporters volunteers and the media at around 9:15 p.m., Maloy said it was too early to make any announcements.

“But I can’t stay super late tonight,” she added. “I’ve got to get on a plane because Congress is voting on appropriations bills this week.” The House is taking up three of 12 spending bills this month.

Despite her early departure, Maloy said she was optimistic about the results. “It was a year ago yesterday that I won at the special convention in Delta,” she said. “In the last 12 months plus one day, I’ve run in a convention, a primary a general convention and another primary — and that’s almost inhuman. So, I’m excited that I’m still standing, that I’m still capable of putting sentences together and that I’m still smiling.”

Jenkins didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Maloy’s supporters show up

Brooke Snow Sullivan took a half-day from work and drove nearly four hours from St. George to West Valley, Utah, to be at Rep. Celeste Maloy’s GOP Primary election night party.

“I’m excited to see her,” Sullivan said. She has known Maloy since they served on the Washington County Republican Party executive committee nearly seven years ago. During that time, Sullivan said, the Utah representative’s intellect and ability to work with others impressed her. And since then, she has followed Maloy on her various endeavors, including her time in Congress.

“It’s really been fun to see her in this position because she really has shown that she’s a true leader,” she said.

From former President Donald Trump to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Maloy received a string of endorsem*nts. She also had the support of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and her three colleagues in the House.

Reps. Blake Moore, of Utah’s 1st Congressional District, John Curtis, of Utah’s 3rd, and Burgess Owens, of the 4th, said they were “proud to endorse Rep. Celeste Maloy as she fights for Utah’s values in Congress.”

But Jenkins, a combat veteran Green Beret, garnered a surprise endorsem*nt from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, days before the state convention in April. This news propelled Jenkins to a win at the GOP convention with 57% of the support, 14 points more than Maloy.

Aimee Winder Newton, a Salt Lake City council member and a friend of Maloy’s was also at the watch party. “A lot of people were really disappointed to see how Sen. Lee treated Celeste in that situation, to not even give a phone call or a heads up was really disappointing,” Newton said of Lee’s endorsem*nt.

At the debates earlier this month, Jenkins repeatedly attacked Maloy’s voting record during her seven months in office.

Maloy defended her affirmative votes for the $1.9 trillion 2024 budget bills that funded federal agencies as “the most fiscally responsible option.”

“Angry talking points and hyperbole and hardline stances aren’t really a formula for winning but they do sound really nice on the campaign flyer,” she told the Deseret News after the event.

Jenkins, with Lee’s backing, positioned himself as the candidate more aligned with Trump, and questioned Maloy’s loyalty. His remarks came weeks before Trump endorsed Maloy.

“President Trump, when he takes office, he wants people who will not undermine him,” he said. “The American people are demanding and craving leadership. They’re tired of Republicans who put America last. That’s what we’re here for, to be hired to defend and fight for our country.”

Maloy worked in land management for the Department of Agriculture and Washington County before serving as the chief legal counsel to her predecessor, Congressman Stewart.

As the Deseret News previously reported, during her short tenure Maloy has introduced bills to transfer federal lands to Utah and extended victim compensations for nuclear fallout victims. She also voted against sending more military aid to Ukraine. Maloy sits on the Small Business and Transportation and Infrastructure House Committees.

Jenkins, a former Green Beret liaison to Congress, at the debate said he wouldn’t compromise Republican priorities. He also indicated he plans to join the House Freedom Caucus.

“I actually worked in Washington, D.C., as a Green Beret liaison to Congress ... before being a senior adviser in the Pentagon for more than four years. So, this will not be my first rodeo,” said Jenkins in an appearance on “The Charlie Kirk Show” Monday. He added, “I’m excited to have the opportunity on behalf of my constituents, to ask the questions, ‘Why?’ And to say, ‘I don’t think so.’”