The Utah Republican bested Democrat Kathleen Riebe to secure recently retired Rep. Chris Stewart’s seat.
Utah Republican Celeste Maloy will have something new to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day this week after winning her former boss’s vacant House seat in a special election on Tuesday.
Voters in Utah’s reliably red 2nd Congressional District chose Ms. Maloy over Democratic state Sen. Kathleen Riebe to replace long-time Republican Rep. Chris Stewart.
The Associated Press called the race about 40 minutes after the polls closed.
“I saw early on in this campaign that I was going to outwork everybody else, and I think I’ve made good on that promise,” Ms. Maloy said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, ahead of her victory.
Ms. Maloy served as Mr. Stewart’s chief counsel before he resigned in September to care for his ailing wife. She was endorsed by the former congressman and was heavily favored to win heading into Tuesday’s contest.
As with the September primary, the Cedar City resident saw a strong showing of support from rural voters in her sprawling district, which spans the southern and western portions of the state up to Salt Lake City.
Her platform prioritized securing the U.S.–Mexico border, protecting religious freedom, reining in “out-of-control” federal spending, and giving Utah more control over its lands and resources.
Ms. Riebe, the minority whip in the Utah Senate, had focused her platform on her background as a teacher. A resident of the Salt Lake City suburb of Cottonwood Heights, she promised on her website to continue teaching full-time throughout her campaign, and to promote “freedom from the red tape of book bans and extreme censorship.”
She also pledged to support labor unions and expanded access to affordable housing, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Ms. Maloy raised nearly twice as much as her Democrat opponent in the seven months leading up to the election, bringing in nearly $588,000 and spending roughly 80 percent of it.
With her victory, she becomes the first woman in Utah’s congressional delegation since 2019 and only the fifth in history.
