The 2008 congressional elections in Utah were held on November 4, 2008 to determine the representatives of the
state of
Utah in the
United States House of Representatives for the
111th Congress
The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...
from January 3, 2009, until their terms of office expire on January 3, 2011. Incumbent
Rob Bishop
Robert William Bishop (born July 13, 1951) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he became the dean of Utah's congressional delegation after the retirement of ...
(
R) was reelected in
Utah's 1st congressional district. Incumbent
Jim Matheson (
D) was reelected in
Utah's 2nd congressional district.
Jason Chaffetz
Jason E. Chaffetz (; born March 26, 1967) is an American retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2009 until his resignation in 2017. He chaired the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2015 until 2017.
Cha ...
(R) was elected to succeed
Chris Cannon (R) in
Utah's 3rd congressional district.
Utah has three seats in the House, apportioned according to the
2000 United States Census
The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 ce ...
. Representatives are elected for two-year terms. The election coincided with the
2008 U.S. presidential election
The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...
.
All races were forecasted as safe for the incumbent party.
District 1
This district covers the northwest area of
Utah including
Ogden,
Logan
Logan may refer to:
Places
* Mount Logan (disambiguation)
Australia
* Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud
* Logan City, local gover ...
,
Tooele, the northwest portion of
Salt Lake City, and the entirety of the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...
. It has been represented by Republican
Rob Bishop
Robert William Bishop (born July 13, 1951) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he became the dean of Utah's congressional delegation after the retirement of ...
since January 2003. His challengers were Democrat Morgan Bowen, Libertarian Joseph Geddes Buchman, and Constitution candidate Kirk D. Pearson. CQ Politics forecast the race as 'Safe Republican'.
District 2
This district covers the largely rural southern and eastern portions of
Utah (including
Saint George and
Moab
Moab ''Mลรกb''; Assyrian: ๐ฌ๐ช๐๐๐ ''Mu'abรข'', ๐ ๐ช๐๐๐
''Ma'bรข'', ๐ ๐ช๐ ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: ๐๐๐๐
ฑ๐ ''Mลซ'ฤซbลซ'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territo ...
in the south and
Vernal in the east), as well as the east side of urban
Salt Lake County, the northern portion of
Utah County, and
Wasatch County. It has been represented by Democrat
Jim Matheson since 2001. His challengers were Republican Bill Dew, Libertarian Mathew Arndt and Independent Dennis Ray Emery. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.
District 3
This district covers central and west central
Utah, including nearly all of
Utah County and the west side of
Salt Lake County. It has been represented by Republican
Chris Cannon since 1997, who lost to
Jason Chaffetz
Jason E. Chaffetz (; born March 26, 1967) is an American retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2009 until his resignation in 2017. He chaired the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2015 until 2017.
Cha ...
in the primary. His challengers were Democrat
Bennion Spencer and Constitution Party Candidate Jim Noorlander. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Republican'.
See also
United States House of Representatives elections, 2008
References
External links
State of Utah ElectionsCampaign contributions for Utah congressional racesfrom
OpenSecrets2008 Utah General Electiongraph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
{{2008 United States elections
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Utah
United States House of Representatives