2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Utah

2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Utah

November 6, 2018
All 4 Utah seats to the United States House of Representatives
Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Last election 4 0 Seats won 3 1 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 617,307 374,009 Percentage 58.65% 35.54% Swing 5.13% 3.56%
District results County results Republican   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Democratic   50–60%

The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Utah were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the four U.S. representatives from the state of Utah, one from each of the state's four congressional districts. The elections coincided with other states' elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. Registered political parties in Utah must have at least one of their candidates for House of Representatives get 2% of the vote in their respective election in order to maintain their ballot access in future elections.[1]

The Democratic Party gained the 4th Congressional district, thus breaking unitary control of all of Utah's Congressional (House and Senate) seats held by the Republicans, changing the House delegation from Utah from 4–0 Republican to 3–1 Republican. As of 2025, this remains the last time that a Democrat has won any congressional election in Utah.

Overview

Popular vote Republican   58.65% Democratic   35.54% Other   5.81%

House seats Republican   75.00% Democratic   25.00%

Results of the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Utah by district:[2]

District	Republican		Democratic		Others		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	156,692	61.61%	63,308	24.89%	34,333	13.50%	254,333	100%	Republican hold
District 2	151,489	56.10%	105,051	38.90%	13,504	5.00%	270,044	100%	Republican hold
District 3	174,856	67.55%	70,686	27.31%	13,316	5.14%	258,858	100%	Republican hold
District 4	134,270	49.86%	134,964	50.12%	37	0.01%	269,271	100%	Democratic gain
Total	617,307	58.65%	374,009	35.54%	61,190	5.81%	1,052,506	100%

District 1

2018 Utah's 1st congressional district election

Nominee Rob Bishop Lee Castillo Eric Eliason Party Republican Democratic United Utah Popular vote 156,692 63,308 29,547 Percentage 61.6% 24.9% 11.6%

County results Bishop:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Castillo:      50–60%

U.S. Representative before election Rob Bishop Republican Elected U.S. Representative Rob Bishop Republican

See also: Utah's 1st congressional district

The 1st District covers northern Utah, including the cities of Ogden and Logan. Republican Rob Bishop, who had represented the district since 2003, was re-elected to an eighth term with 66% of the vote in 2016.

The 1st District went for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, with 49.7%, with Hillary Clinton and Evan McMullin receiving 22.4% and 22.3% respectively.[3] In 2012 the district went for Mitt Romney over Barack Obama, 77.4% to 20.4%.[4]

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Rob Bishop, incumbent U.S. representative[5]

Eliminated at convention

• Chadwick Fairbanks, independent candidate for Utah's 1st congressional district in 2016[6]
• Kevin Probasco, attorney and author[7]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Lee Castillo, social worker, former board member of the Stonewall Utah Democrats[8]
• Kurt Weiland, president and CEO of Jefferson Smith training and Consulting since 1996[9]

Debate

2018 Utah's 1st congressional district Democratic primary debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					John Curtis	Chris Herrod
1	May 29, 2018	Utah Debate Commission	Kerry Bringhurst	[10]	P	P

Results

Democratic primary results[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lee Castillo	7,273	57.21
	Democratic	Kurt Weiland	5,439	42.79
Total votes			12,712	100.0

United Utah Party

Candidates

Declared

• Eric Eliason, businessman, attorney, and adjunct professor[12]

Green Party

Candidates

Declared

• Adam Davis[13]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[14]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[15]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[16]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
RCP[17]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[18]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
538[19]	Safe R	November 7, 2018
CNN[20]	Safe R	October 31, 2018
Politico[21]	Safe R	November 4, 2018

Debate

2028 Utah's 1st congressional district debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic	United Utah
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Rob Bishop	Lee Castillo	Eric Eliason
1	Oct. 17, 2018	Utah Debate Commission	Natalie Gochnour	[22]	P	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Rob Bishop (R)	Lee Castillo (D)	Eric Eliason (UU)	Adam Davis (G)	Undecided
University of Utah[23]	October 3–9, 2018	143	± 8.0%	52%	20%	10%	2%	16%
Dan Jones & Associates[24]	August 22 – September 6, 2018	201	± 6.9%	59%	22%	8%	3%	8%
Lighthouse Research[25]	August 11–27, 2018	600	–	51%	16%	7%	2%	24%

Results

Utah's 1st congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rob Bishop (incumbent)	156,692	61.6
	Democratic	Lee Castillo	63,308	24.9
	United Utah	Eric Eliason	29,547	11.6
	Green	Adam Davis	4,786	1.9
Total votes			254,333	100.0
	Republican hold

District 2

2018 Utah's 2nd congressional district election

Nominee Chris Stewart Shireen Ghorbani Jeffrey Whipple Party Republican Democratic Libertarian Popular vote 151,489 105,051 13,504 Percentage 56.1% 38.9% 5.0%

County results Stewart:      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Ghorbani:      60–70%

U.S. Representative before election Chris Stewart Republican Elected U.S. Representative Chris Stewart Republican

See also: Utah's 2nd congressional district

The 2nd District stretches from the Summit County, Utah line and goes west to the Nevada border and down through St. George. It includes parts of Davis, Salt Lake, Sanpete, and Juab Counties. Republican Chris Stewart, who had represented the district since 2013, was re-elected to a third term with 62% of the vote in 2016

The 2nd District went for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, with 46%, with Hillary Clinton and Evan McMullin receiving 32% and 16.9% respectively.[3] In 2012 the district went for Mitt Romney over Barack Obama, 68% to 29.2%.[4]

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Chris Stewart, incumbent U.S. representative

Eliminated at convention

• Mary Burkett, a businesswoman and former vice chair of the Washington County Republican Party, formed an exploratory committee for a potential primary challenge of Stewart.[26]
• Ken Clark[13]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Shireen Ghorbani, communications professional[27]

Eliminated at convention

• Randy Hopkins, retired Utah Department of Workforce Services regional director[13]

Withdrew

• Misty K. Snow, nominee for U.S. Senate in 2016[28][29]

United Utah Party

Candidates

Declared

• Jan Garbett[30]

Libertarian Party

Candidates

Declared

• Jeffrey Whipple[31]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[14]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[15]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[16]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
RCP[17]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[18]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
538[19]	Safe R	November 7, 2018
CNN[20]	Safe R	October 31, 2018
Politico[21]	Safe R	November 4, 2018

Debate

2018 Utah's 2nd congressional district debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Chris Stewart	Shireen Ghorbani
1	Sep. 19, 2018	Utah Debate Commission	Doug Wilks	[32]	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Chris Stewart (R)	Shireen Ghorbani (D)	Jeffrey Whipple (L)	Other	Undecided
University of Utah[33]	October 3–17, 2018	401	± 4.9%	52%	29%	6%	–	12%
Dan Jones & Associates[34]	August 22 – September 6, 2018	202	± 6.9%	45%	34%	5%	–	16%
Lighthouse Research[25]	August 11–27, 2018	600	–	49%	27%	5%	–	19%
University of Utah[35]	June 11–18, 2018	147	± 7.7%	48%	24%	–	14%	13%

Results

Utah's 2nd congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chris Stewart (incumbent)	151,489	56.1
	Democratic	Shireen Ghorbani	105,051	38.9
	Libertarian	Jeffrey Whipple	13,504	5.0
Total votes			270,044	100.0
	Republican hold

District 3

2018 Utah's 3rd congressional district election

Nominee John Curtis James Singer Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 174,856 70,686 Percentage 67.5% 27.3%

County results Curtis:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Singer:      50–60%

U.S. Representative before election John Curtis Republican Elected U.S. Representative John Curtis Republican

See also: Utah's 3rd congressional district

The 3rd district is located in southern and eastern Utah and includes the cities of Orem and Provo. Republican John Curtis, who had represented the district since 2017, was elected to his first term in a 2017 special election with 57.6% of the vote.

The 3rd District went for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, with 47.2%, with Evan McMullin and Hillary Clinton receiving 24.5% and 23.3% respectively.[3] In 2012 the district went for Mitt Romney over Barack Obama, 78.3% to 19.5%.[4]

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• John Curtis, incumbent U.S. representative[36]
• Chris Herrod, former state representative and candidate for Utah's 3rd congressional district in the 2017 special election[37]

Eliminated at convention

• Damian Kidd, attorney[38]

Declined

• Curt Bramble, state senator[39]
• Jason Chaffetz, former U.S. representative[40]
• Deidre Henderson, state senator[39]
• Mike McKell, state representative[39]
• Evan McMullin, retired CIA officer and independent candidate for U.S. President in 2016[39]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	John Curtis	Chris Herrod	Other	Undecided
University of Utah[41]	June 11–18, 2018	183	± 7.2%	57%	21%	–	21%

Debate

2018 Utah's 3rd congressional district republican primary debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Republican
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					John Curtis	Chris Herrod
1	May 29, 2018	Utah Debate Commission	Jennifer Napier-Pearce	[42]	P	P

Results

Republican primary results[43]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Curtis (incumbent)	66,404	73.32
	Republican	Chris Herrod	24,158	26.68
Total votes			90,562	100.0

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• James Singer, college professor

Eliminated at convention

• Kent Moon

Withdrew

• Kathryn Allen, physician[44]
• Ben Frank[45]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[14]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[15]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[16]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
RCP[17]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[18]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
538[19]	Safe R	November 7, 2018
CNN[20]	Safe R	October 31, 2018
Politico[21]	Safe R	November 4, 2018

Debate

2018 Utah's 3rd congressional district debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					John Curtis	James Singer
1	Oct. 26, 2018	Utah Debate Commission	David Magleby	[46]	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	John Curtis (R)	James Singer (D)	Timothy Zeidner (UU)	Gregory Duerden (IA)	Undecided
University of Utah[23]	October 3–9, 2018	143	± 8.0%	67%	13%	4%	1%	15%
Dan Jones & Associates[24]	August 22 – September 6, 2018	188	± 7.2%	65%	19%	2%	4%	11%
Lighthouse Research[25]	August 11–27, 2018	600	–	52%	20%	2%	4%	22%

Results

Utah's 3rd congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Curtis (incumbent)	174,856	67.5
	Democratic	James Singer	70,686	27.3
	Independent American	Gregory Duerden	6,686	2.6
	United Utah	Timothy Zeidner	6,630	2.6
Total votes			258,858	100.0
	Republican hold

District 4

2018 Utah's 4th congressional district election

Nominee Ben McAdams Mia Love Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 134,964 134,270 Percentage 50.1% 49.9%

County results McAdams:      50–60% Love:      70–80%

U.S. Representative before election Mia Love Republican Elected U.S. Representative Ben McAdams Democratic

See also: Utah's 4th congressional district

The 4th district is located in northern-central Utah and includes parts of Salt Lake, Utah, Juab, and Sanpete Counties. Republican Mia Love, who had represented the district since 2015, was re-elected to a second term with 54% of the vote in 2016.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams was selected in the Democratic primary.[47]

The 4th District voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, with 39.1%, with Hillary Clinton and Evan McMullin receiving 32.4% and 22.5% respectively.[3] In 2012, the district voted for Mitt Romney over Barack Obama, 67.2% to 30.2%.[4]

McAdams would end up defeating Love by 694 votes. [1]

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Mia Love, incumbent U.S. representative

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Ben McAdams, mayor of Salt Lake County[48]

Eliminated at convention

• Sheldon Kirkham[49]
• Darlene McDonald, author and activist[50]
• Morgan Shepherd[51]
• Tom Taylor, engineer and scientist[52]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[14]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[15]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[16]	Lean D (flip)	November 5, 2018
RCP[17]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[18]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
538[19]	Lean D (flip)	November 7, 2018

Debate

2018 Utah's 1st congressional district debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Mia Love	Ben McAdams
1	Oct. 15, 2018	Utah Debate Commission	Doug Wright	[53]	P	P

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Mia Love (R)	Ben McAdams (D)	Other	Undecided
NYT Upshot/Siena College[54]	October 24–26, 2018	526	± 4.7%	45%	45%	–	9%
Dixie Strategies[55]	October 25, 2018	936	± 3.2%	43%	50%	–	7%
University of Utah[56]	October 3–11, 2018	403	± 4.9%	46%	46%	–	8%
Mellman Group (D-McAdams)[57]	October 7–10, 2018	400	± 4.9%	46%	47%	–	–
Y2 Analytics (R-Love)[58]	September 6–8, 2018	405	± 4.86%	51%	42%	–	7%
Dan Jones & Associates[59]	August 22 – September 6, 2018	400	± 4.9%	49%	46%	–	5%
Mellman Group (D-McAdams)[60]	August 20–23, 2018	400	± 4.9%	46%	44%	–	–
Lighthouse Research[25]	August 11–27, 2018	600	–	47%	38%	–	15%
University of Utah[61]	June 11–18, 2018	379	± 5.0%	45%	39%	8%	8%
Dan Jones & Associates[62]	May 15–June 5, 2018	405	± 5.0%	47%	43%	–	10%
Mellman Group (D-McAdams)[63]	February 27 – March 4, 2018	400	± 4.9%	43%	40%	–	–
Dan Jones & Associates[64]	February 9–21, 2018	404	± 4.9%	49%	43%	–	8%
Dan Jones & Associates[65]	January 15–22, 2018	400	± 4.9%	47%	42%	–	11%
Dan Jones & Associates[66]	October 9–18, 2017	402	± 4.89%	48%	42%	–	9%

Results

Utah's 4th congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ben McAdams	134,964	50.1
	Republican	Mia Love (incumbent)	134,270	49.9
	Independent	Jonathan Larele Peterson (write-in)	37	0.0
Total votes			269,271	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

References

1. "Resources" (PDF). elections.utah.gov. 2018.
2. Johnson, Cheryl L. (February 28, 2019). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 2018". Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
3. Singer, Jeff (December 26, 2016). "Evan McMullin managed to take second place in one of Utah's congressional districts. Congrats?". Daily Kos Elections. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
4. "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos Elections. July 9, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
5. "ROBERT". Retrieved August 29, 2018.^[permanent dead link]
6. "CHADWICK H., III, FAIRBANKS - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
7. "PROBASCO, KEVIN CRAIG - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
8. "CASTILLO, LEE MR - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
9. "WEILAND, KUT FREDERICK - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
10. YouTube
11. "Utah Election Preliminary Results". State of Utah. Archived from the original on December 14, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
12. "ELIASON, ERIC R - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
13. "2018 Candidate Filings - Lieutenant Governor's Office: Elections". elections.utah.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
14. "2018 House Race Ratings". Cook Political Report. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
15. "2018 House Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
16. "2018 House". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
17. "Battle for the House 2018". RCP. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
18. "Daily Kos Elections 2018 race ratings". Daily Kos. Retrieved November 5, 2018.^[permanent dead link]
19. Silver, Nate (August 16, 2018). "2018 House Forecast". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
20. "CNN's 2018 Race Ratings". CNN. Archived from the original on October 31, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
21. "Who wins 2018? Predictions for Every House & Senate Election". Politico. Archived from the original on November 4, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
22. YouTube
23. University of Utah
24. Dan Jones & Associates
25. Lighthouse Research
26. DeMille, David (May 26, 2017). "Stewart could face challenge from inside GOP". The Spectrum. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
27. "GHORBANI, SHIREEN SARAH - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
28. "Misty K. Snow launches her second campaign, this time challenging Rep. Chris Stewart". Retrieved August 29, 2018.
29. "SNOW, MISTY K - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
30. "GARBETT, JAN - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
31. "WHIPPLE, JEFFREY - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
32. YouTube
33. University of Utah
34. Dan Jones & Associates
35. University of Utah
36. Tanner, Courtney (November 8, 2017). "Republican John Curtis, Utah's new congressman-elect, set to be sworn in, cast first vote Monday". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
37. Herald, Katie England Daily. "Complete list of candidates who filed to run for office in Utah County". Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
38. England, Katie (January 31, 2017). "American Fork resident Damian Kidd announces primary campaign against Rep. Jason Chaffetz". Daily Herald. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
39. Drucker, David M. (April 20, 2017). "Evan McMullin weighs bid for Chaffetz's House seat". Washington Examiner. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
40. Fox, Lauren; Walsh, Deirdre. "Chaffetz says he's not running for re-election". CNN. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
41. University of Utah
42. YouTube
43. "Utah Election Preliminary Results". State of Utah. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
44. D'Angelo, Chris (April 20, 2017). "Utah Physician Says She'll Happily Do The Job Jason Chaffetz Won't". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
45. "FRANK, BENJAMIN JOSEPH MR - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
46. YouTube
47. "Rep. Mia Love, Ben McAdams win Utah 4th Congressional District primaries". Retrieved August 7, 2018.
48. "MCADAMS, BEN - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
49. "KIRKHAM, SHELDON - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
50. "MCDONALD, DARLENE - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
51. "SHEPHERD, MORGAN - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
52. "TAYLOR, TOM - Candidate overview - FEC.gov". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
53. YouTube
54. NYT Upshot/Siena College
55. Dixie Strategies
56. University of Utah
57. Mellman Group (D-McAdams) ^[permanent dead link]
58. Y2 Analytics (R-Love)
59. Dan Jones & Associates
60. Mellman Group (D-McAdams)
61. University of Utah
62. Dan Jones & Associates
63. Mellman Group (D-McAdams)
64. Dan Jones & Associates
65. Dan Jones & Associates
66. Dan Jones & Associates

External links

• Candidates at Vote Smart
• Candidates at Ballotpedia
• Campaign finance at FEC
• Campaign finance at OpenSecrets

Official campaign websites of first district candidates

• Rob Bishop (R) for Congress
• Lee Castillo (D) for Congress Archived July 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
• Adam Davis (G) for Congress
• Eric Eliason (UU) for Congress Archived April 18, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

Official campaign websites of second district candidates

• Shireen Ghorbani (D) for Congress
• Chris Stewart (R) for Congress
• Jeffrey Whipple (L) for Congress Archived July 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

Official campaign websites of third district candidates

• John Curtis (R) for Congress
• Gregory Duerden (I) for Congress Archived July 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
• James Singer (D) for Congress Archived July 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
• Timothy Zeidner (UU) for Congress Archived September 25, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

Official campaign websites of fourth district candidates

• Ben McAdams (D) for Congress
• Mia Love (R) for Congress