2017 House of Representatives Special Election in Utah's 3rd District

2018 → ← 2016
Utah's 3rd Congressional District
Major Political party Conventions June 17, 2017
Primary Date August 15, 2017
General Election Engagement November 7, 2017
Ballot Winner: John Curtis
Incumbent prior to the ballot: Jason Chaffetz

2017-2018 Special Elections

A special election was held in the 3rd Congressional District of Utah for the U.S. House of Representatives. Provo Mayor John Curtis (R) defeated Kathie Allen (D) past 32 pct points in the election to replace Jason Chaffetz (R), who resigned from function on June 30, 2017. ^[1] ^[2]

The full general election featured a total of six candidates, including Libertarian Joe Buchman, Contained American candidate Jason Christensen, independent Sean Whalen, and United Utah Party candidate Jim Bennett faced each other for the seat.

A Republican master was held on August fifteen, 2017, with John Curtis securing the nomination.^[3] Curtis took a plurality of the votes and won with forty.five percent.

A total of 22 candidates, including thirteen Republicans and three Democrats, initially declared their intent to run for Chaffetz'due south seat. The Democratic and Republican land party conventions were held on June 17, 2017. Kathie Allen won the Democratic Political party's nomination and Christopher Herrod won that of the Republican Party.^[4] ^[5] ^[vi] ^[7] ^[8]

Election Updates

Polls: Curtis led his primary competitors, according to a poll released by Dan Jones & Associates on August eleven, 2017.^[ix]
Spending: Every bit of August 15, 2017, 6 organizations take fabricated independent expenditures totaling more than than $880,000 in the race. The plurality of satellite spending—approximately 28 percentage—went to opposition ads and directly mail campaigns against Curtis.
Near recent endorsement: Herrod was endorsed by Club for Growth on Baronial 4, 2017.

What were the large questions for voters heading into November 7?

Will nosotros meet Autonomous spending in the full general election?
Will John Curtis' entrada strategy alter betwixt the chief and the general?

The special election was the 6th special election to the U.S. Firm in 2022 and the get-go special election for a U.S. Business firm seat in Utah since 1930. Chaffetz was the first fellow member of Congress in the state'south history to announce a resignation from Congress.^[x] The commune was ranked by The Melt Political Report as the 16th well-nigh Republican congressional district in the country.^[xi] Farther, Republicans have won the seat in every general election between 1998 and 2022 with a margin of victory of at least 25 percent, making the Republican convention and primary focal points of the special election.

Utah's 3rd Congressional District is located in the eastern portion of the country and includes Carbon, Emery, Grand, San Juan, and Wasatch counties equally well as portions of Salt Lake and Utah counties.^[12]

Candidate Filing Deadline	Major Political party Conventions	Primary Voter Registration Deadline	Postmark for primary post-in ballots	Primary Election	Full general Election
May 26, 2022 (registered parties) and June 12, 2022 (unaffiliated)	June 17, 2017	Baronial 8, 2017	August 14, 2017	August 15, 2017	Nov 7, 2017

Profiles of Republican primary candidates

The candidates listed beneath are in alphabetical gild.

Tanner Ainge (R)

Political newcomer Tanner Ainge qualified for the Republican primary ballot after collecting 7,000 signatures from registered Republicans in the district.^[thirteen] He attended Brigham Young University and Northwestern University School of Law, and worked in the healthcare industry and consulting after a two-yr mission in Ghana. Name recognition from his begetter, erstwhile professional athlete and Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, and spending from the newly formed Conservative Utah super PAC, boosted his campaign.^[xiv] ^[xv]

According to his entrada website, reducing the national debt and taxes, protecting freedom of religion, and replacing the Affordable Care Act were policy priorities.^[16] He wrote in an op-ed for Deseret News, "On a daily basis, I experience firsthand how the federal government imposes burdensome cherry-red tape, a circuitous tax lawmaking and crushing regulations. In almost every instance, these burdens do more than harm than skilful and result in less growth, fewer jobs and greater barriers to entry for minor business organization. I want to take action today to become government out of the style so that our private sector tin can thrive and create more opportunity."^[17]

John Curtis (R)

Provo Urban center Mayor John Curtis qualified for the Republican primary ballot after collecting more than than 7,000 signatures from registered Republicans in the district.^[18] With an early endorsement from Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) and a double-digit lead in principal polls, Curtis was considered the frontrunner.

He listed reducing regime spending, public lands management, simplifying the revenue enhancement code, and modifying the Affordable Intendance Act as master policy concerns.^[19] "Washington is cleaved, simply our local politics are working. I've washed the hard work. I cut taxes and shrank government, and now Provo is booming. This is my bulletin to Washington about bourgeois governance. It works!" Curtis wrote in an op-ed.^[20]

Christopher Herrod (R)

Christopher Herrod.jpg

One-time state legislator Christopher Herrod avant-garde to the Republican primary subsequently winning the party'south convention, where he defeated 11 other Republicans by securing support from a bulk of the convention delegates on the 5th ballot of voting.^[21] He previously served in the Utah Business firm of Representatives, representing Commune 62 from his 2007 appointment to 2013.

Herrod, a cocky-described "unconventional conservative," advocated self-imposed term limits, repealing the Affordable Care Act, addressing illegal immigration, and shifting rulemaking dominance to the legislature on his campaign website.^[22] He emphasized his stance on immigration during his candidacy announcement, proverb, "Nobody has represented the voices of the legal immigrants or the working class that are getting crushed past illegal immigration. I've done that in the past."^[23]

Paths to the election

Candidates had the option of collecting signatures or participating in a party convention to qualify for the Democratic or Republican primary ballot. Both parties had rules specifically governing the principal process for special elections that ensured that but 1 candidate could advance from each convention.^[24] In the Autonomous Party, the candidate receiving the most votes from delegates advances to the primary, regardless of the margin.^[25] In the Republican Political party, a candidate must receive votes from more than 50 per centum of delegates to accelerate to the main ballot.^[26] If no candidates successfully qualify for the primary election via the signature-gathering procedure, the candidate advancing from the party'southward convention will automatically represent that party in the full general election.^[27]

Prior to the passage of Utah's SB-54 in 2014, candidates could only stand for a party on a principal or general election ballot if they qualified through a recognized party's convention. SB-54 amended state law to allow candidates to be listed on the chief election for congressional races if they received 7,000 validated signatures from constituents. Land law requires signatures to be submitted to the state for validation by the filing deadline for unaffiliated candidates, which for this race was June 12.^[28] Unaffiliated candidates authorize for the general election ballot by collecting a minimum of 300 verified signatures from constituents.^[27]

Political party	Republican	Democratic	Libertarian	Independent American
Convention appointment	June 17, 2017	June 17, 2017	June x, 2017	June 16, 2017

Candidates

General election candidates

Primary and convention candidates

Ballot results

U.Due south. House, Utah's 3rd Congressional District general election, November seven, 2017
Political party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Curtis	58%	85,751
	Democratic	Kathie Allen	25.6%	37,801
	UUT	Jim Bennett	9.3%	xiii,747
	Independent	Sean Whalen	3.1%	iv,554
	Libertarian	Joe Buchman	2.5%	iii,644
	Independent American	Jason Christensen	1.five%	two,286
Full Votes				147,783
Source: Lieutenant Governor's Function

U.S. House, Utah'south 3rd Congressional District Republican master, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Curtis	43.three%	31,481
	Republican	Christopher Herrod	32.6%	23,686
	Republican	Tanner Ainge	24.2%	17,565
Total Votes				72,732
Source: Lieutenant Governor'south Office

Who is weighing in on this race, and what are they proverb?

Satellite spending

Every bit of Baronial 15, 2017, six organizations made contained expenditures totaling more $880,000 in the race. The plurality of that spending—approximately 28 percent—went to opposition ads and direct post campaigns against Curtis.^[30]

Social club for Growth Action spent most $300,000 on digital media and television ads to oppose Curtis and Ainge and support Herrod.

Conservative Utah, a super PAC formed in July 2017, spent more than $240,000 on advertisement buys, media product, and direct mail service campaigns for Ainge.

Jobs, Freedom, and Security PAC spent $thirty,000 to support Herrod.

National Horizon spent $214,000 on media production and direct post campaigns to support Herrod and oppose Curtis.

Senate Conservatives Activeness spent approximately $95,000 on a media buy for Herrod.

Senate Conservatives Fund spent $1,200 on Herrod.

Race background

Timeline

See too: Timeline of Utah'southward 3rd Congressional District special election, 2017

The timeline below summarizes the virtually recent noteworthy events in this ballot.

Commune overview

Utah's tertiary Congressional Commune, which stretches from Northwestern to Southeastern Utah, had a total population of 743,301 equally of 2015. The district was 90.6 percent white, college than the national boilerplate of 76.9 percent. The percentage of the district'southward population that identified equally African-American / Blackness (0.vi percentage), and Asian (ii.ane pct) were beneath their respective national averages, while the percentage who identified as Natives of North America, Alaska, and Pacific Islands (2.3 percentage) exceeded the national average (1.5 pct). The district's median household income was above the national average, $66,007 to $53,889, and the district has a slightly lower percentage of residents without health insurance, 9.iii percent to 10.5 percentage. The district's population had a higher percentage of high-school graduates, 93.four percent to 86.seven percent, and individuals with at least a available's degree, 39.6 percent to 29.8 percent, than the respective national averages.

Party conventions

Democratic Party rules called for a single ballot, with the candidate receiving the almost delegate votes existence named the winner. Kathie Allen received support from 76 percent of the delegates and advanced to the general election on Nov 7, 2017.

Republican Party rules chosen for delegates to vote until a candidate received support from a bulk of the delegates. Christopher Herrod, one-time fellow member of the Utah Business firm of Representatives, won the convention on the fifth ballot. The post-obit graphic indicates the vote tallies for each ballot.

Debates

July xi, 2017, Republican argue

A Republican primary debate sponsored by Americans for Prosperity was held on July 11, 2017. All iii principal candidates—Provo Mayor John Curtis, former state legislator Chris Herrod, and business organisation executive Tanner Aing—participated.^[31]