The Democratic wave that hit other states on Tuesday night missed Utah as Republican John Curtis easily defeated Democrat Kathie Allen in the special election in Utah’s 3rd CD.
It really wasn’t close.
The first wave of mail-in ballots gave Curtis a 31 point lead over Allen, 58-27%. United Utah Party nominee Jim Bennett had just under 9% of the vote.
Curtis’s margin of victory looks to be on par with Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s blowout wins. Chaffetz carried CD 3 by at least 30 points in each of his last four elections.
Allen raised and spent nearly $900,000 on her unsuccessful campaign. That massive amount of cash was not enough to move the needle in a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 5-1. In fact, she performed just about the same as the last three Democrats to run in that district:
- Stephen Tryon got 27% of the vote in 2016
- Brian Wonacott got 23% in 2014.
- Soren Simonsen won 23% in 2012.
Curtis even grabbed an early lead in Salt Lake County, where the bulk of Allen’s support was. If she was going to have any chance of beating Curtis, she needed an overwhelming win there, which did not materialize.
Curtis now goes to Washington where he could be sworn in as soon as next week.
Curtis will have very little time to savor his victory, though. The filing deadline for the 2018 race is just 128 days away.
