Owens Takes Strong Lead in Utah’s 4th Congressional District GOP Primary

Jun 30, 2020, 11:25 PM | Updated: 11:25 pm

Former NFL player Burgess Owens testifies during a hearing on slavery reparations held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on June 19, 2019 in Washington, DC. The subcommittee debated the H.R. 40 bill, which proposes a commission be formed to study and develop reparation proposals for African-Americans. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

(Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

BY CARY J. SCHWANITZ, KSL TV

KSLTV.com

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – First-time politician and former college and NFL star Burgess Owens took a strong lead over three other candidates in the 4th Congressional District Republican primary in the first batch of election results.

Tuesday night’s results showed Owens leading the race with 43 percent or 33,530 votes. Kim Coleman had 23 percent (18,400 votes), Jay McFarland had 21 percent (16,734 votes) and Trent Christensen had 11 percent (8,500 votes).

The Associated Press has already called the race with Owens as the winner, though there were still votes to be counted and released Wednesday.

Decision 2020: We will update results throughout the night on KSL TV pic.twitter.com/J8tBcoUfWt

— KSL 5 TV (@KSL5TV) July 1, 2020

COVID-19 has drastically changed the way votes are counted and the results are posted. New laws allow county clerks to post only one batch of results Tuesday. Before the coronavirus, final results were released on election night and candidates knew whether they won or lost before going to bed.

Because of COVID-19 safety measures, Tuesday’s turned in ballots must sit in quarantine for a day before workers can put them in machines for counting. More results will be released Wednesday.

The winner of the primary will take on incumbent Rep. Ben McAdams in November’s general election.

First batch of results for 4th congressional district has Burgess Owens in the lead. Jay McFarland and Kim Coleman head to head for 2nd followed by Trent Christensen. We talked to each earlier today. Here's what they had to say about how unique this campaign has been. @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/irhSK5iWYj

— Matt Rascon (@MattRasconNews) July 1, 2020

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