Jon Huntsman’s hopes to become Utah governor again 11 years after leaving the office aren’t looking good, with the state’s lieutenant governor, Spencer Cox, leading in Republican primary voting.
Early Wednesday, Cox led Huntsman 37%-34.3%. But with a large swath of mail-in votes still to be counted, the race hasn’t been called.
Cox, 44, was the favorite for much of the four-way race for the GOP nomination to replace incumbent Gov. Gary Herbert after a decade as Utah’s chief executive. Cox and Huntsman, 60, consistently polled as the front-runners, essentially tying in a Salt Lake Chamber survey published last week. The other candidates, former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes and ex-Utah GOP Chairman Thomas Wright, trailed the top two contenders.
All four men steered clear of criticizing President Trump in a state that’s home to U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics.
Tuesday’s contest was conducted entirely by mail for the first time under the new rules introduced in April. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic was an influential factor in all the campaigns. Each of the rivals relied more heavily on TV advertising than in the past. And while Cox was tasked with managing much of Utah’s response to the outbreak, Huntsman himself tested positive for the novel respiratory illness in the closing weeks of his bid.
Results were held until 10 p.m. MT to accommodate voters who had until midnight Tuesday to postmark their ballots. Election officials have three weeks to tabulate the outcome.
Herbert, Huntsman’s successor who’s not seeking reelection, endorsed his No. 2, Cox, before Huntsman entered the race in November. But Huntsman, Utah’s governor from 2005 to 2009, picked up support from Sen. Mike Lee and retired Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Huntsman, a 2012 GOP presidential candidate, was Trump’s leading Russian diplomat from 2017 to 2019. He was also President Barack Obama’s ambassador to China between 2009 and 2011, and President George H. W. Bush’s envoy to Singapore from 1992 to 1993.
Democrat Chris Peterson, a University of Utah law professor, will be the Republican’s opponent in the fall.
