Tagged: Utah

Longtime Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch faced a contentious and much-watched state convention Saturday, two years after fellow Republican Bob Bennett was ousted from office at the same event for not being conservative enough. NPR's Howard Berkes reports.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ducked the fate of his former colleague, Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, and won strong support at the Utah Republican convention Saturday, but it wasn't quite enough to win the GOP nomination outright.

The six-term Utah senator needed 60 percent of convention delegates' votes to win: he got 59 percent. That means he'll compete on the Republican primary ballot June 26, against former state senator Dan Liljenquist for the Republican nomination and the chance to take on a Democratic opponent in the fall election.

Two years ago, Robert Bennett, a Republican senator from Utah, was voted out of office at the state's Republican convention. Bennett's friend, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, has worked hard over the past year to avoid the same fate at today's state convention. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz talks with NPR's Howard Berkes about the results of today's convention vote.