Former President Donald Trump won Utah for the third presidential election in a row, multiple national outlets reported Tuesday night, as voters at numerous polling locations remained in line.
The lieutenant governor’s office, which oversees Utah elections, has not yet published early returns.
While the ex-president was expected to secure a win in the Beehive State by a solid margin, just how his share of Utah’s vote compares to the previous two presidential elections won’t be clear until the final ballots are counted in the coming days and state officials certify results Nov. 25.
Trump made one stop in Utah — the first since 2017 — while on the campaign trail, speaking to supporters at a fundraiser in a Salt Lake City International Airport hangar. The campaign’s planned fundraiser was canceled and rescheduled multiple times.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Donald Trump’s plane lands at Salt Lake City International Airport on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.
In 2016, when independent candidate and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Evan McMullin challenged Trump, approximately 45.5% of Utah voters cast their ballots for Trump. That number rose to 58.13% in 2020.
When Utah Republicans were polled by the state GOP at caucus meetings this spring as to whom they wanted the party to nominate for president, 56.4% opted for Trump, compared to 42.7% for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Turnout at caucus meetings, however, was below 10% among active, registered Republicans. GOP lawmakers have on multiple occasions quashed legislative hearings on the Utah Republican Party’s chaotic Super Tuesday — with its low participation rate, long lines, questions about the poll’s integrity and allegations that it disenfranchised disabled Republicans.
Trump’s victory in Utah comes just over three months after Republican Gov. Spencer Cox endorsed the former president for the first time — an about-face from previous criticism.
His lieutenant governor and running mate, Deidre Henderson, declined to endorse anyone in the presidential race, saying, “I have a real struggle with people who do know better and should know better at the top of Republican politics, who are sowing doubt and chaos and confusion for political gain.”
Cox was criticized for sending a campaign email touting an appearance he made with Trump at Arlington National Cemetery in August. The governor later apologized.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
