The News
Democrats in Rhode Island nominated a former White House staffer to fill a deep-blue House seat, while the GOP primary for a bright-red seat in Utah was too close to call.
In the Providence-based 1st Congressional District, Gabe Amo prevailed over 10 other Democrats, setting up him to become the state’s first Black member of Congress. It was a win for the Congressional Black Caucus, which endorsed him, and a defeat for progressives, who backed 33-year old former state legislator Aaron Regunberg.
Amo’s campaign focused on his work for both Biden and Barack Obama, touted an endorsement from former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, and said his work with mayors of both parties would better equip him to pass legislation. He’ll face Republican Gerry Leonard in November, in a district whose electorate backed Joe Biden by 29 points.
In Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, where Rep. Chris Stewart is retiring, his endorsement helped his former legal counsel Celeste Maloy grab a razor-thin lead over ex-state Rep. Becky Edwards as of this morning, with votes still left to be counted. Maloy had won the local GOP’s nomination at a June convention, but Edwards and businessman Bruce Hough petitioned their way onto the ballot — Hough running as the most pro-Trump candidate, Edwards as a moderate conservative who’d supported Joe Biden in 2020 and said that it hadn’t been “necessary” to overturn Roe v. Wade.
