Republican Spencer Cox won reelection as governor of Utah on Wednesday. Cox defeated Democratic state Rep. Brian King and conservative write-in candidate Phil Lyman, who had urged his supporters to vote for him instead of Cox after losing the Republican primary in June. This will be Cox’s second term in the governor’s office. He has long been viewed as a moderate Republican but surprised voters this summer when he unexpectedly backed Donald Trump after the presidential candidate survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally. The Associated Press declared Cox the winner at 12:29 a.m. EST.
