Full Breakdown
Utah 3rd Congressional District Debate Highlights Candidates and New Map
By Drooid · · How we work
Utah 3rd Congressional District Debate
Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy and Democrat Kent Udell will face each other on Friday evening in a televised debate hosted by the Utah Debate Commission. The event will be streamed live from the Eccles Fine Arts Center at Utah Tech University in St. George and begins at 6 p.m. local time. Both candidates qualified by meeting the commission’s 10 % polling threshold.
Redistricting and Candidate Background
Maloy, who has represented Utah’s 2nd Congressional District since 2023, is running in the newly drawn 3rd District after the state’s mid-decade redistricting reshaped district boundaries. The new district covers all of southern Utah and much of the eastern part of the state, including Provo (home to Brigham Young University) and St. George. Kent Udell, a retired mechanical-engineering professor at the University of Utah, is a first-time candidate who ran uncontested in the Democratic primary.
Polling and Debate Qualification Data
According to a poll conducted by the Utah Debate Commission, Maloy captured roughly 45 % of voter support, while Udell earned about 26 %. The same commission set a 10 % minimum support level for debate eligibility, a benchmark both candidates surpassed. Several third-party hopefuls—Constitution Party candidate Cassie Easley, Libertarian Michael Stoddard, and two independents—failed to meet the threshold and were excluded from the stage.
Campaign Outlook and Election Timing
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates the race as a “Solid R,” indicating a strong Republican advantage. With Election Day slated for early November, the debate provides the first direct contest between the two major-party nominees under the new congressional map, offering voters a chance to assess how each candidate plans to address the district’s diverse urban and rural concerns.