Rep. Celeste Maloy and challenger Phil Lyman went toe to toe Monday night in a Republican primary debate at PBS Utah’s Eccles Broadcast Center, a high‑stakes showdown in the newly redrawn 3rd Congressional District. Over the hour, voters got a clear split screen of two pitches for rural Utah: Maloy leaning on experience and results, Lyman channeling an insurgent, delegate‑driven revolt.
The Utah Debate Commission staged the faceoff, which was livestreamed from PBS Utah’s studio and picked up by local outlets. According to PBS Utah, the feed will be archived online, and KUER provided live coverage and noted that former state GOP chair Thomas Wright moderated the program.
Convention Left The Race Razor Close
The bad blood did not start onstage. The two are coming off a state convention that left Republicans almost perfectly split. Maloy, who currently represents Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, barely edged Lyman in April’s delegate vote, about 50.9% to 49.1% in the final round, but neither locked it up, and both advanced to the June primary, according to Deseret News.
Maloy also secured her spot on the ballot through petition signatures, while Lyman relied solely on convention backing, per UtahPolitics.news.
Where They Disagree
Onstage, Lyman leaned hard into a "transparency" theme and staked out tougher lines on immigration and federal land management, the same red‑meat issues he has pushed since his 2024 run, KUER reported. He framed himself as the outsider ready to rattle cages in Washington.
Maloy answered by flashing her committee assignments and constituent services record, arguing that her relationships in Washington and her committee work are already turning into concrete wins on water, permitting, and public‑lands issues, as local coverage has noted. Her implicit pitch: rural Utah is better off with a known quantity who can get calls returned in D.C.
How To Watch And What Comes Next
If you missed the live fireworks, the Utah Debate Commission and PBS Utah say the video will be posted online, and ABC4 reports the feed is also available on the News4Utah+ streaming app.
Ballots for Utah’s regular primary were mailed beginning June 2, and Election Day is Tuesday, June 23, according to the state elections site on Vote Utah.
With fewer than three weeks to go, both camps are expected to shift from studio lights to mailboxes and doorstep knocks across eastern and southern Utah. Given how tight the April delegate vote was, even a small movement after Monday’s debate could decide who carries this safely Republican district to Washington.
