John Curtis wins the GOP primary for US Senate in Utah, AP projects

Utah Rep. John Curtis handily won Utah’s race for U.S. Senate Tuesday evening, according to the Associated Press, which called the race for the congressman 24 minutes after polls closed in the Beehive State.

The race to replace Sen. Mitt Romney is the highest profile of the night and Curtis entered the evening as the frontrunner over Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, former Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson and businessman Jason Walton.

Around 100 Curtis supporters gathered at a Provo park in 90-degree plus heat, many donning campaign-branded straw hats and baseball jerseys as they waited for the first round of ballot counts to roll in.

The mood turned celebratory after the first round of results showed up online, showing Curtis with close to 50% of the vote in the four-person race.