OREM — A former longtime member of Congress from Utah has won a special election to fill a vacancy in the state Legislature.
Rob Bishop, who represented northern Utah in Congress from 2003 to 2021, was elected by GOP delegates during the state Republican Convention on Saturday to House District 6 following the resignation of Rep. Matthew Gwynn.
Bishop, 74, will fill out the remainder of Gwynn’s term, which ends in January 2027. He will also be on the ballot as the Republican nominee for the seat this November, facing Forward Party member James Rich.
Gwynn resigned from the Utah House of Representatives in March to spend more time with his family as his daughter recovers after being hit by a vehicle last year.
This is a return to the Utah House for Bishop, who served there from 1978 to 1994, including as House speaker for one term.
State senator barely hangs on
Also at the state convention, Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, finds himself in a primary against Rep. Doug Fiefia, R-Herriman, after barely surviving a delegate vote Saturday morning. Fiefia won nearly 59% of the delegate vote, coming up short of the 60% threshold that would have ended McCay’s reelection bid.
Instead, the two will face off in the June 23 primary.
McCay is a longtime lawmaker who was first appointed to the House in 2012 and joined the Senate in 2019. He is a well-known conservative who helped pass Utah’s trigger abortion ban and serves as the chairman of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.
Fiefia is a rising GOP star who pivoted to politics after a career in tech. He has quickly become one of the lawmakers at the center of Utah’s efforts to rein in Big Tech by sponsoring an online privacy law and attempting to enact recent regulations on artificial intelligence. Those recent efforts stalled after President Donald Trump came out against them.
Former lawmaker loses comeback bid
Meanwhile, a former Utah House majority assistant whip has lost his bid to return to the Legislature.
John Knotwell, who served as a state lawmaker from 2013 to 2019, failed to advance out of the GOP convention on Saturday in the Senate District 11 race. Instead, Brooks Benson earned more than 73% of the delegate vote and will be the party’s nominee in November.
The state Senate seat is currently held by Sen. Emily Buss of the Forward Party, who took over in December after former Sen. Daniel Thatcher resigned. Buss, who is the only third-party member of the Utah Legislature, is running for a full term of her own. Democrat MacKenzie Miller is also seeking the seat.
Senate president faces primary
Senate President Stuart Adams will face two Republican primary challengers in June.
Adams received 54.8% of the delegate vote in the Senate District 7 race on Saturday, compared to 43.2% for Braden Hess. Both will advance to the primary, although Adams had already secured a spot on the ballot by gathering signatures.
However, another GOP candidate, Stephanie Hollist, also qualified for the primary after gathering signatures.