Bey scores 42 points, Pelicans beat Jazz 129-118 to open 2-game set in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Saddiq Bey scored 42 points, Zion Williamson had 20 and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Utah Jazz 129-118 on Thursday night to open a two-game set.

The teams will meet again in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. The Pelicans, who opened a six-game trip, have won three straight and five of seven to improve to 18-42.

Bey was 14 of 20 from the field, making 5 of 9 3-pointers, and hit all nine of his free throws. Williamson was 9 of 14 from the floor.

Pelicans point guard Dejounte Murray added 17 points and nine assists in his second straight game after missing more than a year because of a torn right Achilles.

Ace Bailey led Utah with 23 points, and Brice Sensabaugh had 20. The short-handed Jazz have lost four straight to fall to 18-41.

Utah star Lauri Markkanen was injured in practice Wednesday, and was held out of the game because of a sprained right ankle and right hip impingement.

Starters Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic were shut down for the season following surgeries, and Utah lost Vince Williams Jr. to a torn ACL on Monday night in a loss at Houston.

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New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray (5) elbows Utah Jazz guard Isaiah Collier (8) in the face as he drives to the basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

New Orleans Pelicans guard Jordan Poole (3) shoots over Utah Jazz forward Blake Hinson (2) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears (0) goes to the basket for a layup past the defense of Utah Jazz forward Kevin Love (42) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

New Orleans Pelicans guard Saddiq Bey, center, has the ball blocked by Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams, center left, blocks a shot by New Orleans Pelicans guard Saddiq Bey (41) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

LONDON (AP) — The Green Party has won a special election in England, a big boost for the small party and a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose center-left Labour Party was relegated to third place.

The Greens’ Hannah Spencer was declared winner of the contest in Gorton and Denton early Friday with 14,980 votes. Matthew Goodwin of the hard-right Reform UK party got 10,578 votes. Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia received 9,364.

The constituency in the Greater Manchester area of northwest England was solid Labour territory for decades, and the result demonstrates that Britain’s political landscape is increasingly fragmented.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

LONDON (AP) — Residents of a northwest England district voted Thursday in a special parliamentary election that could help determine the future of beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Polls closed at 10 p.m. (2200GMT), with results due early Friday.

The by-election in the Gorton and Denton constituency in Greater Manchester is a three-way race between Starmer’s center-left Labour Party, the environmentalist Green Party and the hard-right Reform UK. The area elected Labour lawmakers for almost all of the last century, but Starmer’s government has seen its popularity plunge since it won office in July 2024.

Local polling and betting markets make it too close to call among Labour local councilor Angeliki Stogia, academic-turned-pundit Matthew Goodwin for Reform UK, and the Greens’ Hannah Spencer, a plumber.

The anti-immigration Reform UK, led by the veteran hard-right politician Nigel Farage, holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons — Labour has 404 — but has topped national opinion polls for months, ahead of both Labour and the main opposition Conservative Party.

The Green Party has four seats, but under “eco-populist” leader Zack Polanski has expanded beyond environmental concerns to focus on issues including support for the Palestinian cause and the legalization of drugs.

Both Labour and the Greens claim to be best-placed to stop a Reform victory.

“Voting Green is the only way to ensure Reform don’t win,” said Spencer, the party's candidate.

Starmer said voters’ choice “could not be more stark: unity or division.”

Reform leader Nigel Farage said electors should “vote Reform to ditch Starmer.”

The outcome of the election, which was triggered by the resignation of the area’s former Labour lawmaker, is hard to call, in a diverse area that has traditional working-class neighborhoods — once strongly Labour, now tilting toward Reform — as well as large numbers of university students and Muslim residents. Many of them feel disillusioned by Labour’s centrist shift under Starmer and the government’s perceived slowness at criticizing Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza — fertile ground for the Green Party.

“By-elections are always difficult for incumbent governments, and this one has been no different,” Labour lawmaker Andrew Western said as polls closed.

Starmer has endured a string of setbacks since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024. He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living. He pledged a return to honest government after 14 years of Conservative government that ended in scandals and chaos, but has been beset by missteps and U-turns over welfare cuts and other unpopular policies.

Defeat in the special election would underscore the depth of Labour’s unpopularity and the challenge it faces from both left and right.

The next national election does not have to be held until 2029, meaning the main threat to Starmer comes from within his own party.

A Labour win in Gorton and Denton may give Starmer a reprieve from party opponents who are considering whether to ditch him for a new leader.

Starmer had a narrow escape earlier this month as party discontent spiked after revelations about the relationship between sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson, the veteran Labour politician appointed by Starmer in 2024 to be U.K. ambassador to Washington.

Police are investigating emails suggesting Mandelson passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. Mandelson was arrested and questioned by detectives this week before being released on bail. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.

Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2025 after evidence emerged that the ambassador had maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. But recent revelations have stirred up Labour lawmakers’ anger at Starmer’s poor judgment in appointing Mandelson to the Washington job.

Labour and Green Party supporters in Levenshulme in northwest England, Thursday Feb. 26, 2026, as voters head to the polls in the Gorton and Denton constituency. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Voters in the Longsight area of Manchester, northwest England, enter a polling station, Thursday Feb. 26, 2026, as voters head to the polls in the Gorton and Denton constituency. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks with students and staff, during a visit to the Walbottle Academy Campus in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Scott Heppell/PA via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)