Riley Owen, 27, will be the Republican nominee for Utah’s newly created 1st Congressional District, having won 71.2% of the delegates’ vote at the state GOP convention on Saturday in Orem.
His Republican opponents, Dave Robinson and Stone Fonua, ran as convention-only candidates. Since Robinson and Fonua did not gather enough signatures to qualify for the primary, Owen will automatically advance to the general election in November.
The 1st District covers the northern two-thirds of Salt Lake County and leans Democrat. During the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris beat President Donald Trump by 23 percentage points in the district, as the Deseret News previously reported.
However, delegates and candidates alike seemed optimistic that 1st District voters would consider policy over party affiliation during their upcoming congressional elections.
Joshua Northrup, a 1st District delegate from Taylorsville, told the Deseret News that his neighbors are more concerned about affordability than anything else.
They “care about how it’s going to affect their bottom line, their paycheck, their grocery bill, their taxes. They care about that because that’s their life,” he explained.
Who is Riley Owen?
Owen is a descendant of six generations of Utahns.
After earning degrees from Princeton and Oxford in international affairs and public policy, Owen worked as CEO of Doers Network, based in Salt Lake City.
He currently serves as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve.
After walking onstage to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Owen made a case for restoring traditional conservatism to Washington, D.C.
“I believe in America and the American dream that has fueled our prosperity for centuries, and I am not willing to let progressive ideologies dissolve that dream into a mere fantasy,” he said.
Owen has been endorsed by Utah Attorney General Derek Brown and President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Robert O’Brien.
What did delegates say about Owen?
Northrup said he started off skeptical of the 27-year-old, but after meeting him, Owen “totally changed my mind.”
“I met Riley, and I was like, this kid is awesome,” Northrup told the Deseret News.
Northrup appreciated Owen’s willingness to “pay attention to people he was meeting in those town halls.” He also said he appreciated that Owen periodically updated his website.
Based on his neighborhood in Taylorsville, Northrup said he believes a Republican could win a general election in November. His neighbors “care more about policy” than their political identity, Northrup said.
Cassandra Hodges, a delegate from Kearns, told the Deseret News she’d made her decision to vote for Owen based on previous interactions with him at town halls.
“He remembered my name after meeting me one time. And he was willing to come out to Kearns to get to know the other constituents in our area ... so Riley was a clear choice,” she said.
What did Fonua and Robinson say?
Robinson began his address to delegates at Utah Valley University’s UCCU Center by making a case against signature gathering. Though Robinson declared intent to gather signatures, both he and Fonua did not certify any signatures.
“I believe signature gathering has changed the fabric of Utah and not for the better,” he said.
Robinson has served in various political capacities in Salt Lake City for about a decade. In 2016, he ran against then-incumbent Ben McAdams for Salt Lake County mayor. McAdams has qualified for the 1st District’s primary election by gathering signatures.
In his address to delegates, Robinson spoke in favor of securing and closing the border, removing illegal immigrants with a criminal record, and cutting back on social programs that encourage illegal immigration.
Robinson also referenced sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations, which were made against him in 2020 and early 2021.
He described the 1st District election as “a winnable race.”
“We have many issues that are 80-20 and 90-10,” he said.
Fonua focused his address to delegates on “love and peace.” He asked the audience to look to their left and smile, then look to their right and smile.
Then he sang the hymn “Love at Home.”