Utah holds its congressional primaries tonight. The only contested race is UT-03, where perennially unpopular Rep. Chris Cannon faces a challenge from former gubernatorial aide Jason Chaffetz, who might well pose a serious threat – at least according to one poll. While at most we’d be swapping one wingnut for another, SSP Contributing Editor Cristitunity observes that Cannon hails from the “cheap labor conservative” wing of the Republican Party, while Chaffetz is from the “hate the immigrants” wing, hence the origin of this beef. Pick your poison, I suppose.
Polls close right about now – 10pm Eastern time/8pm local. Click here for results.
UPDATE by Crisitunity 1 am edt:
I assume the east coast-based folks have gone to bed, so I’m going to go ahead and call this one. With 497 of 621 precincts reporting (80%), it’s
Chaffetz 18,960 (60%) *
Cannon 12,539 (40%)
Another Clinton impeachment manager bites the dust.
Hard to get excited about this one.
Is this district near Salt Lake? I always thought the city itself was fairly progressive.
With 2 precincts in, Chaffetz is up “big”.
Are there any other interesting races anywhere on the earth tonight?
I’m under the belief that knocking out older members in the House will weaken the Rethugs. Cannon has been around since at 1997 and probably has some money connections that will be lost if he gets beaten. I can only hope also that Chaffetz will be such an incompetent, royal asshole that this seat will at least trend a little bluer. On the other hand having Cannon around may cause some turmoil within the Utah state GOP but I’d rather hold onto the federal government then pick up scraps in Utah.
No Action States:
Utah
Massachusetts
Vermont
South Carolina
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Nebraska
North Dakota
Tennessee
Hawaii
55% to 45%
Only the GOP could mount a challenge to a reliable conservative in the reddest district in America because he is not enough of a hardliner against immigrants.
I think I have to agree with an earlier post which argues that in the longterm having Chaffetz is good. If the Republicans keep following the Jeb Hensarling line of thought that they are losing elections because they are not conservative enough, then let’s hope they eventually oust all of the “moderate” GOPers (note: Cannon is not a moderate himself).
If, in ten years every GOP member of Congress resembled Tom Tancredo, Steve King and Bill Sali, then I think we would be in good shape going forward.
Wow folks really hated Cannon, huh?
And Ethan Berkowitz.
He’s getting smashed 63-37 in Salt Lake County and 58-42 in Utah County, where most of the outstanding precincts are.
He’s quickly approaching fork-level readiness.
He’s got a history of interesting comments, such as defending polygamy and saying that Mark Foley was egged on by his pages, according to TPM Election Central (I don’t know how to link directly, but the URL is http://tpmelectioncentral.talk…
In a seat this red, I prefer having someone as ridiculous as Cannon so we can have someone to point to when the public forgets just how insane Republicans really are.
I just remembered that Chris Cannon was one of the 13 House impeachment managers. With his loss, we have a small amount left from the original rogue’s roster. There may be some errors in my memory:
Bob Barr: Defeated in a 2002 primary by John Lindner after redistricting.
George Gekas: Defeated in a massive 2002 upset by Tim Holden after redistricting.
Lindsay Graham: Moved up to the Senate in 2002.
James Sensenbrenner: Still in the House.
Henry Hyde: Retired in 2006 and recently passed away.
James Rogan: Ousted by Adam Schiff in 2000.
Steve Buyer: Survived 2002 redistricting and is still in the House.
Charles Canady: Retired in 2000.
Asa Hutchinson: Left Congress in 2001 to head the DEA; was beaten by Mike Bebee in the AR 2006 Governor’s race.
Bill McCollum: Defeated by Bill Nelson in the FL 2000 Senate race; currently serving as FL AG.
Ed Bryant: Left the House in 2003.
Steve Chabot: Still in the House, but threatened this year.
Chris Cannon: Apparently defeated in the 2008 primary.
Just Graham (Senate), Sensenbrenner, Buyer, and Chabot now remain, and Chabot may be out come November.
Good riddance!
The far far right is having a pretty good year in their primaries, but it the long run that benefits us as the Republican Party continues to marginalize itself.
This is surprising. I’m not surprised that Cannon is losing, but by such a large margin?
There have been two sides, to who we want to win.
Reasons why we like Chaffetz
1. Less seniority. Starting at the bottom of the chain.
2. GOP Exodus of moderates allows Democrats to dominate the middle ground, politically where necessary, since the GOP is being taught not to stray from party lines.
Reasons why we like Cannon
1. The GOP continually tries to oust him, now they no longer have to waste effort and money against him.
Any I’m forgetting?
Personally I like the seniority/exodus arguement. Matheson can hold his own, even with a couple hundred thousand a cycle now being opened up to use against him in the future.
I wish my fellow Republicans would think of this more realistically. I would like to throw all the illegals out just as much as anyone else, but the problem has grown too big to do that. People like Cannon/Bush/McCain are on the right path. Its the next best thing that we can get is their reform. Certainly better than what we have now.
1) Chaffetz’s dad was once married to Kitty Dukakis
2) Chaffetz supported Michael Dukakis in 1988, before realizing that Reagan was his idol, of course. Ha.
a good point about the fact that if Cannon stays, like he did in ’06, the GOPers in the state will spend a lot of time and resources trying to take him out instead of going for, I don’t know, Jim Matheson? I see it hard though us ever taking this district.
Two years ago I read a book (I do not remember the author) whose author suggested that Democrats focus on taking congressional seats in the NE, Midwest and those portions of the West, and leave the Republicans in a regionally and ideologically marginalized condition. I don’t think the author counted on the Republicans doing part of the job for us.
Outside the AK GOP House primary, how many other incumbents facing major primaries are left? Probably in Co-5 where Doug Lamborn (R) faces a major primary, Bill Jefferson (D-LA), and lesser threats but still interesting for Rick Keller (R-FL), Marshal (D-GA), and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI).
It’s sure getting contagious, even affecting the GOP.
You got Andy Harris knocking off Wayne Gilchrist
You got Donna Edwards knocking off Al Wynn
Now this Chaffetz guy knocking off Cannon.
How interesting…
I now make this 28 Repubs not running for re-election in November.
Chaffetz becomes another Tancredo: A high profile example of the GOP’s anti-immigrant sentiment.
I have family in the SLC area of UT and know quite a bit about UT politics. While the state as a whole is very socially conservative, they are by and large accomodating to immigrants. There has been a decent influx of immigrants to UT in recently years as there has in many states and most people there have no problem with it. In fact Utah has quite possibly the most extensive network of charities of any state in the country. They do a good deal to help out the poor in their state, including immigrants.
Utah 3rd district is VERY unrepresentative of the state as a whole. It is rural and more xenophobic.
I just thought I’d clarify any possible misconceptions about Utah that might arise from last night’s election.
I think no one has commented yet on the spectacular polling failure in this race. If I recall correctly, the last pre-election poll had Cannon up by 4. He lost by about 20. What was up with that?