Republican Celeste Maloy wins Utah's 2nd Congressional District

Republican Celeste Maloy won Utah's 2nd Congressional District seat on Tuesday, defeating Democratic state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, the Associated Press reported late Tuesday.

Maloy is a supporter of former President Donald Trump who served as chief legal counsel for U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, whose resignation set off a special election in the district.

Stewart, who stepped down because his wife was ill, endorsed Maloy to succeed him. He represented the district, which covers Salt Lake City and rural communities in southern and western Utah, for a decade.

Maloy won a three-way GOP special election primary in September, defeating Trump critic and former state Rep. Becky Edwards.

Maloy faced a lawsuit claiming she was ineligible to run as a Republican due to issues with her Utah voter registration.

Maloy did not vote in the 2020 and 2022 federal elections in Utah. She was living in Virginia at the time to work for Stewart.

Her Utah voter registration was marked inactive as a consequence and the state was in the process of deleting it, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Maloy updated her Republican voter registration a day after the special election filing deadline, according to the Tribune.

Maloy told a Utah radio program she did not realize her registration was inactive. She said she did not vote in Utah's past two federal elections because she was worried her absentee ballot would be flagged as fraudulent.

"I didn't want my absentee ballot from out of state to get flagged as a fraudulent vote," Maloy told KSL NewsRadio. "I didn't want my boss to be answering any questions about my vote."

A Utah district judge ultimately threw out the lawsuit claiming Maloy was ineligible to run.