Having failed to secure his party’s blessing at the GOP 2022 Nominating Convention, U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Dist. 1) will now faced challenger Andrew Badger in the June 28 primary balloting.
SALT LAKE CITY – U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Dist. 1) survived the GOP 2022 Nominating Convention here by the skin of teeth on Saturday.
After three rounds of balloting by state delegates, Moore will move on to the GOP primary on June 28, where he will face challenger Andrew Badger.
Badger spoke to delegates at the convention three times, in brief speeches that sounded more like revival meetings. In the end, Badger came within a hair’s breath of securing the nomination, with 59.2 percent of the ballots cast as opposed to Moore’s 40.7 percent.
Hopeful businessman Michael Campbell of Ogden fell by the wayside in the first round of convention voting with a mere 8 percent of 935 ballots cast by District 1 delegates.
Mayor Julie Fullmer of Vineyard and former Morgan County commissioner Tina Cannon were eliminated with 6.5 percent and 8.8 percent of 917 votes in Round Two. But Cannon has already qualified to get her name on the primary ballot by collecting signatures.
“You don’t bring a knife to a gun fight,” she told delegates. “You bring a cannon.”
In the final round of balloting, Moore avoided his carefully cultivated reputation for bipartisanship, preferring to stand on his proposed legislation to hold the Biden administration accountable for its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.
But a majority of delegates still preferred Badger’s fiery rhetoric.
Badger, a fifth generation Utahn, obtained a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College and a master’s degree in diplomacy from the University of Oxford.
Badger served as a civilian intelligence officer for six years, including voluntary tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cannon is a accountant with experience in tax issues.
Moore is in his first term in Congress, having been elected in November of 2020 to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop. He is a member of the House Armed Services and House Nature Resources committees.
He is one of only four freshman congressman who have crafted bills that have passed the House and Senate and been signed into law.