SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy narrowly won the Republican primary in Utah's 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday after the state Supreme Court rejected her challenger's lawsuit that asked justices to count a batch of ballots with late postmarks after Maloy defeated him in a recount by fewer than 200 votes.
After hearing oral arguments last week, the Utah Supreme Court shot down Colby Jenkins' last-ditch effort to recover enough disqualified ballots to overtake his opponent. The panel determined that Jenkins failed to identify any instance where election officials did not comply with state law, Chief Justice Matthew Durrant wrote in a court order Tuesday. He said Jenkins' lawyers also did not inform the court in their petition that they would be challenging the constitutionality of the state law requiring mailed ballots to be postmarked before Election Day.
“His petition falls well short of establishing that he is entitled to the relief he seeks," Durrant wrote.
Maloy, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, led by 176 votes after a recount in early August, which makes her the Republican nominee now that Jenkins has exhausted all avenues to challenge the results. She is seeking her first full term in Congress after winning a special election last fall.
“I know it was a really close race, and I know that means a lot of people didn't vote for me, so I just want to speak to the people who didn't support me and say, ‘I’m going to keep working for you.'” Maloy said in a video statement Tuesday after the court decision. “I'm going to work hard for Utah and for the people of the 2nd District, regardless of where they fell in this primary.”
Maloy's lead after Election Day was narrow enough to put the race within recount territory, which in Utah is when the difference in votes for each candidate is equal to or less than 0.25% of the total number of votes cast.
Jenkins formally requested the recount but followed it up immediately with his legal challenge contesting the certification of results over more than a thousand late ballots. His complaints revolved around a batch of ballots routed through Las Vegas, where some mail from southern Utah is processed.
He called Tuesday “a sad day for democracy” and criticized the state for “outsourcing” elections to other entities such as the U.S. Postal Service.
“I have contacted Congresswoman Maloy to officially congratulate her on her victory,” Jenkins said in a statement. “We remain committed to ensuring that every citizen's right to vote is protected.”
Maloy's primary victory notches Trump his only win of this election cycle in Utah, a rare Republican stronghold that has not fully embraced his grip on the GOP.
A Trump-backed U.S. Senate candidate lost to the more moderate U.S. Rep. John Curtis in the race for Sen. Mitt Romney’s open seat. Many others who aligned themselves with the former president, in Utah and beyond, have lost primaries this year, dealing a blow to Trump’s reputation as a Republican kingmaker.
Maloy is favored to win in November over Democratic nominee Nathaniel Woodward, a family law attorney. The 2nd District, which groups liberal Salt Lake City with conservative St. George and includes many rural western Utah towns, has not been represented by a Democrat since 2013.
The congresswoman rebounded from a loss at this year’s state GOP convention, which typically favors the farthest-right candidates, to ultimately defeat Jenkins at the ballot box. Jenkins, a retired U.S. Army officer and telecommunications specialist, got the nod from delegates after earning the support of Utah’s right-wing U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, but he did not win by a wide enough margin to bypass the primary.
The dueling endorsements from state and national leaders of the party’s far-right faction made for a closer than expected contest that could not be called until nearly two months after Election Day.
Maloy, who lives just north of Zion National Park in Cedar City, began her career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working to conserve natural resources, improve water quality and manage nutrients in the farmlands of southwest Utah. As an attorney, she specialized in public land issues involving soil and water and land ownership. In her brief congressional tenure, she has served on subcommittees focusing on water resources and rural development.
Utah congressional candidate Colby Jenkins speaks to reporters at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, after the Utah Supreme Court heard oral arguments in his case concerning late ballots. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets Friday, a day after the militant group’s leader vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, the Israeli military and the militant group said.
Israel’s military said the rockets came in three waves Friday afternoon targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
In Gaza, Palestinian authorities said 15 people were killed overnight in multiple Israeli attacks.
An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah is promising to retaliate for deadly attacks on its communication devices after Israel’s defense minister announced a “new phase” of the war. Fears are increasing that 11 months of exchanges of fire between the two sides will escalate into all-out war.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. They have come close to a full-blown war on several occasions.
Here's the latest:
Palestinian authorities say 15 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in multiple Israeli attacks.
An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
In Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, another person was killed and several others injured when a vehicle was hit by an Israeli strike, the Civil Defense said.
Late Thursday, six more people were killed in a strike that hit a home in the center of Gaza City, while another was killed in Beit Lahya, north of Gaza City.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
Israel's foreign ministry said Friday it submitted two legal briefs in response to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against the country's leaders.
The court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders. One of them was since assassinated in what was believed to be an Israeli strike.
The foreign ministry said it has submitted two legal briefs challenging the court’s jurisdiction to arrest Israeli leaders and claiming the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate itself before requesting the warrants.
“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor,” wrote Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein on the social media platform X. He said Israel remained “steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and would continue to protect its citizens against militancy.
Israel is not a party to the court. Rights groups say the country has struggled to investigate itself in the past. Netanyahu has brushed off calls for a state investigation into the failings that led to the Oct. 7 attack.
BAGHDAD — A leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia was killed Friday in a strike in Syria, a war monitor and a militia official said.
Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group — which is different from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — said in a statement that Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed “while performing his duties as a security advisor in Damascus.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that a leader in Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group was killed and another person injured in a drone strike on the car they were traveling in on the road to the Damascus airport.
An official with an Iraqi militia confirmed that a car carrying a group of militia members was struck in Damascus, killing one person and injuring three others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
There was no comment from Israeli officials on the strike. Israel frequently strikes Iranian and Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes.
Tensions have heightened in the region following a wave of apparently remotely detonated explosions in Lebanon targeting pagers and walkie talkies belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah. The attacks, widely blamed on Israel, which has not commented on them, killed at least 37 people - including two children - and wounded about 3,000.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad
BEIRUT — Israel’s military killed two Hezbollah members who were planting explosives along the border over the weekend, Israel’s military and an official with a Lebanese group said.
The official with a Lebanese group said the two members of the militant group were killed Sunday and their bodies were taken by Israeli troops because they were too close to the fence along the tense frontier. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Thursday, Israel’s military released a video it said was taken by one of the fighters showing the militants coming under fire. The military said that the two fighters were killed by Israeli troops as they tried to plant an improvised explosive device near a military post.
In the days following the tense border interaction, thousands of devices exploded in different parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 others. The attack was blamed on Israel, and many of those killed or injured were members of Hezbollah.
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Right-wing Israelis with relatives held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and their supporters, rally against a hostage deal, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. The placard in Hebrew reads: " To bathe in his blood." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Houses are engulfed in fire as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians duck for cover as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
FILE - Hezbollah fighters carry one of the coffins of four fallen comrades who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
