Morning Digest: A GOP congresswoman thought she got a lifeline. Now it might be the end of the line.

A colleague's retirement saved Celeste Maloy from a redistricting squeeze-out, but hardliners have other plans for her

Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy (R) (credit: Celeste Maloy Facebook)

Leading Off

UT-03

Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy, who has survived multiple near-death experiences during her short career in Congress, will now face another existential challenge.

Former state Rep. Phil Lyman, a far-right politician who ran for governor in 2024, said Thursday that he would seek the Republican nomination for the revamped 3rd Congressional District. Lyman made his plans known shortly after Maloy, who represents the old 2nd District, announced she’d seek reelection in the safely red 3rd.

Lyman was a prominent hardliner long before he sought higher office in 2024, when he both challenged Gov. Spencer Cox for renomination and waged a high-profile write-in campaign for the general election.

Lyman ran afoul of federal law in 2015 when, as a San Juan County commissioner, he was convicted after leading an all-terrain vehicle group through a canyon the federal government had closed to protect Native American cliff dwellings. Prosecutors alleged that he recruited people who had recently taken part in far-right militant Cliven Bundy’s armed standoff with federal law enforcement officials.

Lyman spent 10 days in prison, though Donald Trump later pardoned him in late 2020. Lyman has since made a name for himself by advancing lies about the 2020 and 2022 elections.

Maloy, who was first elected to represent the old 2nd District in a 2023 special election, is now running for a constituency that includes her home in southwestern Utah, but just under a third of her current constituents. Maloy may still prefer the change of scenery, however, as she only barely won her last primary under the old lines.

Yet before Maloy goes up against Lyman in the June 23 primary, the two will face off in a preliminary bout.

Candidates in Utah can qualify for the primary ballot either by collecting signatures or by winning the support of at least 40% of the delegates at their party’s convention. While candidates are allowed to pursue both options, the conservative hardliners who dominate GOP gatherings have long insisted that Republicans should ignore the signature route.

Bryan Schott of Utah Political Watch initially said Thursday that Maloy would pursue only the convention options, but the Deseret News’ Cami Mondeaux reported later that day that the congresswoman had begun gathering signatures as well. Both Republicans and Democrats will hold their respective conventions on April 25.

Maloy’s decision to try both routes comes after she barely won enough support among the 825 delegates at the 2024 convention to keep her campaign going. Her opponent that year, Green Beret veteran Colby Jenkins, edged her out 57-43 two months before Maloy narrowly held him off 50.1 to 49.9 in the primary.

Lyman, for his part, announced that he would also collect the 7,000 signatures he needs to be assured a place on the June ballot. The ex-lawmaker didn’t mention whether he’d participate in the convention as well, though there’s plenty of reason to think he will.

Two years ago, Lyman demolished Cox, who has long had a fraught relationship with hardcore conservatives, in a 68-32 blowout on the convention floor. The governor, who also pursued the signature route, went on to win their primary by an unimpressive 54-46 margin.

Lyman characteristically responded to own defeat by unsuccessfully suing and mounting a write-in campaign. While he didn’t stop Cox from easily beating Democrat Brian King 53-28, Lyman’s 14% of the vote was another sign of his appeal with hardliners.

In her brief time as a political candidate, Maloy has never enjoyed an easy primary, and she’s made plenty of enemies along the way.

She was serving as chief legal counsel to GOP Rep. Chris Stewart in 2023 when the congressman abruptly announced his resignation. Stewart then endorsed Maloy to succeed him in the 2nd District ahead of the party convention, an event that winnowed the field ahead of the primary.

That gathering made Maloy the GOP frontrunner after she won an upset over former state House Speaker Greg Hughes, the apparent favorite. But the Salt Lake Tribune reported just days later that Maloy had last voted in Utah in 2018 before taking a job with Stewart in Washington, D.C.

That absence led election officials to move her voter registration to inactive status, and spurred Maloy’s detractors to argue in court that she’d violated state law because she only became an active voter again after she filed to run for Congress.

That suit failed, but Maloy only won the primary by a 39-33 margin over former state Rep. Becky Edwards, who had infuriated conservatives during the previous presidential election when she endorsed Joe Biden.

Maloy comfortably won the general election, but the new congresswoman’s troubles were far from over. Jenkins challenged Maloy for a full term the following cycle, and he earned a major endorsement just before the convention from far-right Sen. Mike Lee.

Lee, who indicated that he’d sided against the incumbent because of her vote for the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, continued to oppose her after she advanced to the primary, as did the nihilistic House Freedom Caucus.

Maloy received Trump’s endorsement late in the campaign, though he wasn’t the only GOP leader she linked herself to. The congresswoman also aired ads starring Cox, who was in the midst of his own battle against Lyman.

Maloy eventually came out on top by 176 votes in a primary that took over a month—and a recount—to resolve. And while Maloy again had no trouble that fall, she found herself in jeopardy again last year when a state judge ordered a new congressional map to replace the GOP-drawn gerrymander.

Maloy finally caught a break on Wednesday when GOP Rep. Burgess Owens announced he would retire rather than defend the 4th District. That decision freed Republican Rep. Mike Kennedy, who represents the old 3rd, to announce Thursday that he would run for the new 4th rather than compete against Maloy in the revamped 3rd.

Any relief she felt at Owens’ announcement would have been brief, though, as Lyman now threatens to end her career once and for all.

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Texas' blockbuster primary night

Election Recaps

TX-32

Attorney Jace Yarbrough will head to a runoff against pastor Ryan Binkley in Texas’ 32nd District, though he’ll be the heavy favorite after taking 49% of the vote in Tuesday’s primary to just 22% for his rival.

Yarbrough had the support of both Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott and came close to winning the GOP nod outright, but the Associated Press did not call a runoff until Thursday afternoon. In the new map they passed last year, Republicans gerrymandered the previously Democratic 32nd District beyond all recognition, transforming it into a safely red seat.

TX-AG

Texas Democrats will host a May 26 runoff in their primary for the open post of attorney general after state Sen. Nathan Johnson fell just short of winning outright.

Johnson took 48% while former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski was well off the pace with 26.4% of the vote. The Associated Press did not call the race until Thursday, though, likely because the third-place finisher, former federal prosecutor Tony Box, was not far behind with 25.5%.

Republicans will also hold a runoff in the race to succeed incumbent Ken Paxton. Their contest will feature state Sen. Mayes Middleton and Rep. Chip Roy after Middleton led 39-32 in the first round.

Senate

OK-Sen

Donald Trump announced Thursday that he was ousting beleaguered Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from his cabinet and nominating Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her, a move that immediately transformed what had been a sleepy race in the Sooner State.

If Mullin, who had been seeking a full term this fall, is confirmed by his colleagues, it will be up to Gov. Kevin Stitt to pick someone to replace his fellow Republican. The GOP-dominated legislature, though, passed a law in 2021 that requires anyone who accepts such an appointment to sign a pledge not to run for the seat in the next election.

State Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton told the Oklahoma Voice on Thursday that this unusual provision may not actually be legally enforceable “from the standpoint of kicking someone off of the ballot.” Paxton, though, argued it still carried weight because any senator who were to go back on their word would have to explain their reversal to voters.

There’s no shortage of Republicans in this dark-red state who could run for Senate, but would-be candidates only have until the April 3 filing deadline to decide. One well-heeled congressman, though, appears to have already decided to go for it.

NOTUS reports that Rep. Kevin Hern will run and will self-fund $5 million to jumpstart his effort. While Hern, who owned 10 McDonald’s franchises when he was elected to represent Tulsa in the House in 2018, didn’t confirm he would seek a promotion, he told the site to “[s]tay tuned for the announcement next week.”

Rep. Stephanie Bice’s team, meanwhile, informed NOTUS she’s looking at a bid. Rep. Josh Brecheen, however, simply said he was “excited for Markwayne Mullin” when asked about his interest.

There’s also speculation that Stitt, who cannot seek a third term as governor this year, could run. Stitt, whom Trump has long despised, has not indicated that such a campaign appeals to him, though.

The GOP primary will be on June 16, and candidates need to win a majority of the vote to avoid a runoff on Aug. 25. Whoever secures the Republican nomination should have no trouble in the general election in one of the most conservative states in the nation.

SD-Sen

Donald Trump’s decision to eject Kristi Noem from his cabinet reignited speculation that Noem, who served as governor of South Dakota until last year, could come home to challenge Sen. Mike Rounds in the GOP primary. Trump, though, has a different career change in mind for her.

In his Truth Social post announcing Noem’s ouster, Trump also said that his soon-to-be-former Homeland Security chief “will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.” That may have been news to Noem, who did not appear to have any idea she’d just been given her pink slip at an event shortly after Trump’s post went live.

South Dakota’s candidate filing deadline is March 31, which makes it almost impossible for Noem to accept Trump’s meager concession and still run for office.

Noem, for her part, has not shown any obvious interest in placing her name on the ballot this year. The Atlantic reported last month that Round’s allies had begun preparing” for the possibility that she could challenge the incumbent in the June 2 GOP primary even though they were “skeptical” that she’d actually bite.

Governors

CA-Gov

Former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, whose bid for California’s open governorship drew little notice, dropped out of the race on Thursday and endorsed Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell instead.

Two days earlier, state Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks published an open letter asking candidates without “a viable path” to quit the contest ahead of Friday’s filing deadline out of concern that two Republicans could advance to the general election.

So far, only Calderon has taken Hicks up on the suggestion, while others have brushed it off or reacted with hostility. In the latter camp was Tony Thurmond, the state schools chief.

“Bernie Sanders was right. Our political system is rigged, corrupted by the political elites, the wealthy, and the well connected,” he said in a video posted on X. “The California Democratic Party is essentially telling every candidate of color in the race for governor to drop out.”

GA-Gov

Former state Sen. Jason Esteves just became the first Democrat seeking Georgia’s open governorship to launch a major ad campaign, while spending on the Republican side has already reached towering heights with more than two months still to go before the May 19 primary.

Esteves is spending seven figures, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, to air an ad in which he slams Donald Trump for “driving up our costs and rigging the system for billionaires.” He promises to “take Trump to court” and “end the billions in tax giveaways to AI data centers” before concluding, “Georgia, it’s time to fight back.”

Esteves is one of five notable Democrats seeking his party’s nod, while the Republican contest boils down to a four-way race. The newest entrant, though, is dramatically raising the costs of competing.

According to the AJC, self-funding businessman Rick Jackson has spent or reserved $33 million in airtime, while his also-wealthy rival, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, has booked $10 million.

IA-Gov

Rep. Randy Feenstra, the frontrunner in the Republican primary for Iowa’s open governorship, has launched his first TV ads of the year, which both tout his support for Donald Trump and attack the likely Democratic nominee, state Auditor Rob Sand.

Feenstra’s spot begins with a scene from Trump’s recent State of the Union address, during which Trump said, “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support.”

Republicans in the House chamber did as he asked while Democrats remained seated. Feenstra’s narrator then says, “D.C. Democrats refused, and Rob Sand is just another Democrat politician who does the same.”

Sand was not in attendance, but, as the Des Moines Register notes, he told a conservative radio host last month, “I would have stood up, and I would’ve applauded.”

The ad, which Feenstra’s campaign says is backed by a “multi-mullion dollar buy,” concludes by saying Feenstra “stands with President Trump, securing our border and deporting illegals.”

House

CA-14

Wealthy businesswoman Rakhi Israni, who is running for California’s open 14th District as a Democrat, has an extensive history of contributing to far-right candidates, including self-described “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer, reports The Intercept.

In addition to Loomer, a Donald Trump confidante who nearly upset Florida Rep. Daniel Webster in the 2022 GOP primary, Israni has also donated to Texas Rep. Pat Fallon, who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and a PAC run by Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.

Israni, who recently said she had already raised $2 million for her campaign, told the Intercept, “I oppose Trump’s attacks on our democracy, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his assault on reproductive freedom, and the division he has fueled in this country.”

Several other notable Democrats are running for the 14th District, which Rep. Eric Swalwell is leaving to run for governor, including state Sen. Aisha Wahab, Democratic operative Matt Ortega, and BART board president Melissa Hernandez.

FL-27

Businessman Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani who tried to push the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter Biden and later served time in prison, announced this week that he would run for Florida’s 27th Congressional District as a Democrat.

After Parnas was charged with campaign finance fraud unrelated to his Ukraine efforts in 2019, he became a critic of Donald Trump and was sentenced to 20 months in a correctional facility following his conviction by a jury in 2021. He only served a few months behind bars, though, before being released to home confinement. He completed his sentence in September of 2023.

Two notable Democrats were already challenging Republican Rep. Maria Salazar in the 27th District: businessman Richard Lamondin and attorney Robin Peguero.

MI-03

TV meteorologist Terri DeBoer announced on Thursday that she’d run against Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten in Michigan’s 3rd District, a one-time GOP stronghold that Republicans have largely given up on.

The 3rd, which has long been centered around the city of Grand Rapids, had been in Republican hands for three decades before Scholten flipped it in 2022, aided by a new map drawn by the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission that wound up making the seat bluer.

Last cycle, though, major GOP groups spent nothing on the race, and Scholten defeated an unheralded foe 54-44. Until DeBoer’s entry, no notable Republicans had entered this year’s race or even talked about doing so.

NV-02, NV-AG

Douglas County Commissioner Danny Tarkanian once again said that he would not seek the Republican nod for Nevada’s open 2nd District, following a recent report from the Nevada Independent that he had commissioned a poll of the race despite previously professing a lack of interest.

Several candidates in both parties, however, are running for this conservative constituency in northern Nevada, which is represented by retiring GOP Rep. Mark Amodei.

Tarkanian instead filed paperwork on Thursday for the open position of attorney general, a race he joined last May. He faces attorney Adriana Guzman Fralick, who has Gov. Joe Lombardo’s endorsement, in the GOP primary. Democrats, meanwhile, will host a showdown between state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and state Treasurer Zach Conine.

NY-12

Private equity firm fundraiser Alan Pardee, who self-funded $700,000 for his congressional campaign but otherwise failed to stand out, dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination for New York’s open 12th District on Thursday. A large field of candidates is still hoping to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler in this safely blue seat in Manhattan.

TX-23

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales announced late on Thursday night that he would not continue his bid for reelection, hours after GOP leaders in the House called on him to step aside.

A day earlier, Gonzales had insisted he would keep running, even as he admitted for the first time that he had had an affair with a former aide who died by suicide last year.

On Tuesday, the congressman learned that he would face a May 26 runoff against far-right gun manufacturer Brandon Herrera, who led him by a 43-42 margin in the first round of voting.

Herrera will now face off against attorney Katy Padilla Stout, who won the Democratic nomination for Texas’ conservative 23rd District, a sprawling constituency that stretches from the outskirts of San Antonio all the way to the El Paso suburbs some 500 miles to the west.

Gonzales indicated that he would not resign early, saying in a statement, “I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district.”

Gonzales, a Navy veteran, first joined the House following the 2020 elections, after Republican Rep. Will Hurd announced his retirement from a prior, more competitive version of the 23rd District. Gonzales won the GOP nomination by just 45 votes over his nearest rival, a result that took a month to determine.

Then, in something of an upset, he defeated Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones by a 51-47 margin, thanks in key part to a sharp shift to the right among Latino voters. After that election, though, GOP lawmakers made the district redder and pushed it out of reach for Democrats.

But following the Uvalde school massacre in 2022, which took place in his district, Gonzales supported a gun safety measure called the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. That earned him a censure from the Texas Republican Party, and a primary challenge from Herrera in 2024.

Herrera came very close to ousting the incumbent. Gonzales led his opponent 45-25 in the first round of voting, but the runoff proved to be much closer.

In that contest, Gonzales dubbed Herrera “a known neo-Nazi”; highlighted his mockery of the Holocaust, veteran suicide, and even Barron Trump; and pointed out that he had only relocated to Texas from North Carolina a few years earlier. But Herrera, who had the support of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, held Gonzales to a tight 50.6 to 49.4 win—a margin of just 354 votes.

Though Herrera later tweeted that his first campaign “was probably the worst 9 months of my life lol,” he wound up launching a rematch last year. Given Herrera’s near-miss, another competitive contest was always likely, but the race was overshadowed in its final weeks by intense scrutiny of Gonzales’ affair with his one-time staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, who killed herself in September by dousing herself in gasoline and lighting herself on fire.

While the 23rd remains difficult turf for Democrats—Donald Trump won it by a 57-42 margin—Herrera’s extreme views and a reversal among Latinos may give Padilla Stout an opening.

Legislatures

IN State Senate

Bluffton City Councilman Blake Fiechter recently abandoned his campaign against an Indiana senator who defied Donald Trump on redistricting, but Bloomberg’s Mica Soellner reports that he nonetheless joined several other candidates challenging GOP dissidents on a visit to the White House on Wednesday.

It’s not clear, though, whether Fiechter has reconsidered his decision. The councilman had been seeking to unseat state Sen. Travis Holdman, one of 21 Republicans in the upper chamber who joined with all 10 Democrats to reject a GOP-drawn map in December, but dropped his bid after less than a month.

Fiechter had received Trump’s endorsement even before running, but when he quit the race, he said he hadn’t gotten the support he had expected.

“I felt like I was on a raft alone trying to navigate,” he told WANE 15.

Fiechter was unable to remove his name from the May 5 primary ballot, though, so he could potentially resume his campaign. However, his Facebook page, where he originally announced his candidacy, offers no indication that he’s back on the trail.

Poll Pile

• GA-Sen (R): Emerson College for Nexstar Media: Mike Collins: 30, Buddy Carter: 16, Derek Dooley: 10, undecided: 40.

• GA-Sen: Emerson:

  • Jon Ossoff (D-inc): 47, Carter (R): 44.

  • Ossoff (D-inc): 48, Collins (R): 43.

  • Ossoff (D-inc): 49, Dooley (R): 41.

• IL-Sen (D): Change Research (D) for Raja Krishnamoorthi: Raja Krishnamoorthi: 36, Juliana Stratton: 26, Robin Kelly: 14. (Dec.: 42-14 Krishnamoorthi.)

• LA-Sen (R): BDPC for Advanced Strategies: Bill Cassidy (inc): 28, Julia Letlow: 21, John Fleming: 21. (Jan.: Letlow: 27, Cassidy: 21, Fleming: 14.)

• LA-Sen (R runoff): BDPC:

  • Letlow: 42, Cassidy (inc): 34.

  • Fleming: 43, Cassidy (inc): 32.

  • Fleming: 36, Letlow: 27.

• GA-Gov (R): Emerson: Burt Jones: 21, Rick Jackson: 20, Brad Raffensperger: 11, Chris Carr: 6, others 2% or less, undecided: 38.

• GA-Gov (D): Emerson: Keisha Lance Bottoms: 35, Geoff Duncan: 13, Michael Thurmond: 7, Jason Esteves: 4, Derrick Jackson: 3, undecided: 38.

• PA-Gov: Franklin & Marshall College: Josh Shapiro (D-inc): 48, Stacy Garrity (R): 28.