Six-term Republican senator Orrin Hatch of Utah is projected to win his primary against challenger Dan Liljenquist, the Associated Press reports. Hatch is likely to win in the general election in November for his seventh term in the Senate, which he has said will be his last. If reelected, Hatch will also be the most senior Republican senator.

Tea Party activists had made defeating Hatch in the primary a priority, citing Utah’s senior senator’s history of earmark spending. While Hatch failed to avoid a primary at the state convention in April, Liljenquist was never able to make the race too close.