Utah Congressional District 3 Republican Primary: Celeste Maloy vs. Phil Lyman
Guide to the June 2026 Republican Primary for Utah’s Third Congressional District
About this position
Utah’s newly configured 3rd Congressional District (“CD3”) of the U.S. House of Representatives is one of Utah’s four federal House seats. Congressional District 3 covers much of eastern and southern Utah, including areas such as St. George, Provo, Orem, Cedar City, and Vernal. Find your congressional district.
Federal representatives help shape federal laws, budgets, public lands policy, infrastructure funding, and national priorities affecting Utah communities.
Candidates
Top priorities come from candidates’ official websites. We view this guide as merely a starting point. Please research more and reach out to the candidates directly to learn more about their issues and experience.
Find the values and attributes we’re looking for in candidates.
Celeste Maloy
Born in Cedar City, lived most of life in Washington County (southern Utah). Current U.S. House Representative for Congressional District 2. Former public lands attorney, deputy county attorney and chief legal counsel to Congressman Chris Stewart. In late 2023, Ms. Maloy was elected in a special election to replace her boss.
Top priorities (from campaign messaging and public statements): Border security and immigration enforcement, public lands and local control, protecting religious liberty and the right to bear arms, energy production and rural economic development.
Insights: Ms. Maloy is a traditional conservative with strong ties to Utah’s legal and public lands communities. Supporters describe her as pragmatic, policy-focused, and institutionally minded. We are concerned about her strong support for the current administration and approach that seems to favor developer interests over the public interest.
We also note that Ms. Maloy has, at times demonstrated willingness to engage in bipartisan processes. Her voting record remains strongly conservative and closely aligned with the Republican caucus—but she has spoken out occasionally over the growing power of the executive branch and the broad federal layoffs during the second Trump term. See more of her legislative record.
Phil Lyman
Born and raised in southeastern Utah. Accountant by trade and former Utah state representative and San Juan County commissioner. In 2024, Mr. Lyman ran for Utah governor, winning the Republican nomination during convention but losing in the primary. He chose not to accept this election loss, filing lawsuits to remove his opponent and ultimately running in the 2024 gubernatorial election as a write-in candidate.
Mr. Lyman is known for advocacy around federal land use, states’ rights, and opposition to federal regulation in rural communities, and more recently for leading lawsuits against state government.
Top priorities (from campaign messaging and public statements): Reducing federal government influence, public lands access and local control, government transparency, opposition to federal regulation, immigration enforcement, and border security.
Insights: Mr. Lyman’s worldview appears shaped by decades of conflict over public lands in southeastern Utah. We find that his rhetoric and governing style tends toward divisiveness and confrontation, raising concerns about his ability to build consensus or engage in bipartisan problem solving.
Mr. Lyman is now closely aligned with efforts to question the integrity of the 2020 election (and his own failed gubernatorial bid in 2024), and routinely fuels skepticism over Utah’s election administration and voting systems that we don’t find is supported by the data. See more of his record.
Watch their recent debate.
Our Recommendation
We do not regard either candidate in this race as “moderate.” However, we regard Celeste Maloy as the stronger choice that comes closer to the values we’re looking for.
Although Ms. Maloy has voted with Republican leadership most of the time, we’re encouraged she has also on occasion demonstrated the courage to speak independently and to engage respectfully with opponents in the work of governing.
While both candidates espouse common conservative priorities, Ms. Maloy generally grounds her positions in public policy, legal principles, and local-governance concerns. We prefer this to the more confrontational, anti-government approach that Mr. Lyman often takes. We are also concerned by his frequent election denialism and other accusations of unprofessional conduct.
With this in mind, we encourage Republican voters in District 3 to support Celeste Maloy during the Republican Primary this June.
What’s next?
The winner of the Republican primary for CD3 will face several competitors this November, who already won their party’s nomination and don’t face a primary:
Democratic candidate Kent Udall
Constitution Party candidate Cassie Easley
Learn more about this race.