Curtis, Kennedy win U.S. Senate, House seats as Republicans lead Utah congressional races

Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, attends at an election night event hosted by the Utah Republican Party in Draper, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Photo: Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch

By: Kyle Dunphey and Alixel Cabrera 

This ongoing report of Utah election results was updated at 11:58.

The Republican party is on track to reaffirm its control of three of Utah’s four congressional districts and one open Senate seat on Tuesday, with four candidates holding on to at least 59% of the vote.

Incumbent Reps. Blake Moore and Burgess Owens are headed back to Congress for their next two-year terms, while Rep. Celeste Maloy will serve her first full term after the special election win that took her to Congress.

They’ll be joined by state Sen. Mike Kennedy, who has already announced his departure from the Utah Legislature and is poised to become the 3rd Congressional District’s next representative.

And Rep. John Curtis will be Utah’s next U.S. senator, replacing the retiring Mitt Romney, after his Democratic challenger Caroline Gleich conceded Tuesday evening.

As of 11:24 p.m., Curtis, already declared winner earlier on election night, holds 62.21% of the vote over Gleich’s 32.8%. Third-party candidate Carlton Bowen with the Independent American party had about 5%, while write-in candidate Laird Hamblin had 0.01%.

Curtis’ victory marks the end of his seven years in the U.S. House, where he established himself as one of the Republican Party’s leading advocates for climate change policy, helping create the Conservative Climate Caucus. He’ll join Sen. Mike Lee in the Senate, whose term ends in 2029.

Speaking via Zoom to a packed room of Republican supporters at the GOP’s watch party in Draper, Curtis said he was “so grateful.”

“I want to make your agenda my agenda. I want to make sure my vote represents you. I look forward to hearing from all of you. Hopefully a great, great night for Republicans, certainly here in the state but hopefully across the country,” Curtis said. 

Gleich conceded early into Tuesday night after the Associated Press called the race for Curtis, despite no Utah results being publicly available.

In a statement, Gleich congratulated Curtis, expressing hope that she could work with him on climate and environmental legislation in the future.

“I’m incredibly proud of the campaign we’ve run. While the result was not what we had hoped, we focused on critical issues: climate action, public lands and reproductive freedom. We have engaged young people, who have the greatest stake in the future of this country,” she said.

Before the results were released, Gleich said no matter the outcome of her race, she believed there has been progress in the Democratic Party in Utah this election cycle.

“I think that calling us a red state is a disservice to Utah, because we’re already much more purple, and people vote on issues,” she said on election night. “And I am really excited about the young people, particularly that we reached with our campaign.”

The country should also look into campaign finance reform, Gleich said, criticizing the $5.5 million that Curtis raised in his campaign, arguing that the money could have instead paid to house or feed thousands of children.

“I just believe that our system is badly in need of reform,” she said.

Mike Kennedy, a soon-to-be former state senator who has represented Alpine since 2012, is Curtis’ likely replacement for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, holding onto about 65% of the vote Tuesday, compared to Democrat Glenn Wright, who received about 35%.

Kennedy — ​​a family doctor and attorney — had previously challenged Romney for his Senate seat in 2018. After Curtis announced his candidacy for Senate, Kennedy entered the 3rd Congressional District race, where he won with about 39% of the vote in the GOP primary.

According to initial batches of unofficial results, Maloy is on track to enter her first full term in the 2nd Congressional District since winning a special election in 2023 to replace Rep. Chris Stewart, who resigned from his House seat. Maloy received 58.85% of the vote Tuesday, leading Democrat Nathaniel Woodward, who got about 34% of votes. Constitution party candidate Cassie Easely received about 5% and unaffiliated candidate Tyler Murset got about 2%.

Tuesday’s victory marks the end of a tumultuous election cycle for Maloy, who won her GOP primary election by just 214 votes, or 0.2%, over Colby Jenkins. Jenkins, who was endorsed by Mike Lee, would go on to unsuccessfully challenge the primary results.

Rep. Blake Moore is set for a third term representing Utah’s 1st Congressional District, with about 63% of the vote Tuesday evening — his Democrat opponent, Bill Campbell, had about 32%, while Libertarian Daniel Cottam had about 4%. 

Moore, who first won the seat in 2020, handily won this year’s GOP primary with 71% of the vote.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday night, Moore said early results show a general sentiment around the country that voters are not pleased with the Biden administration.

“In his first two years, (Biden) spent nearly 5 trillion net new dollars, created the worst inflation we’ve seen, at least in my lifetime. And the American people, I think, are speaking out tonight that they don’t want to continue to go in that direction,” Moore said. “Hopefully we keep the house. And there’s a lot of good races out there that look like they’re going to flip in the Republicans’ favor.”

And in the 4th Congressional District, Burgess Owens is holding on to about 62% of the vote, with Democrat Katrina Fallick-Wang at about 33%. United Utah candidate Vaughn Cook received about 4%, while independent Evan Bullard was at 1.39%.

A former NFL athlete and Fox News contributor, Owens served his first term in 2020 after beating Ben McAdams, Utah’s last Democrat in Congress, in a close race. After the Utah Legislature drew new congressional district maps making the district much less competitive, Owens has comfortably held his House seat.

In a statement after the polls closed on Tuesday, Owens said he was “honored” to have the trust of Utah’s 4th District.

“We have a lot of hard work ahead, but I’m all in — committed to securing a future Utahns can count on and be proud of. That means fighting for a strong economy, keeping our communities safe, and building an education system that puts our kids first. Thank you for your faith in me,” Owens said.

Utah’s election results will be final following the statewide canvass on Nov. 25.