May 31, 2023 7:56am EDT
Utah Rep Chris Stewart to resign from House, shrinking GOP majority
Stewart's departure from the House would leave Republicans with only a 4-seat majority
By Chris Pandolfo | Fox News
Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, is planning to resign from Congress before the end of the year, according to multiple reports.
Stewart, a six-term lawmaker, is expected to announce his intent to leave the House of Representatives Wednesday due to his wife's illness, The Associated Press reported. His resignation would leave open a Republican seat on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees — and reduce an already narrow GOP majority to just four seats.
Utah law states that the governor must call for a special election in the event of a House vacancy. Once Stewart makes his resignation official, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will have seven days to set the time for a primary and special election. The law requires those dates to be the same as municipal primary and general elections scheduled for this year, unless the state legislature appropriates funds to hold a separate election.
A Republican candidate is heavily favored to fill the vacancy. Stewart represents Utah's 2nd Congressional District, a reliably GOP constituency in western Utah that stretches from the Salt Lake City metro area to St. George. In the 2022 midterm election, Stewart easily defeated Democratic challenger Nick Mitchell, winning re-election with a landslide 63.4% vote share.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/utah-rep-chris-stewart-resign-house-shrinking-gop-majority
