SALT LAKE CITY (AP)—
U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson has been forced into a Democratic primary by Utah party delegates upset that he voted against President Barack Obama's health care reforms.Matheson's rival is a retired school teacher who has never run for public office.
Claudia Wright captured 45 percent of the vote Saturday at the Utah Democratic Party convention.
Matheson won 55 percent of delegates' votes -- not the 60 percent he needed to avoid a primary.
Matheson is Utah's lone Democrat in Congress and has never had to run in a primary before.
At the GOP state convention Saturday, Republicans narrowly chose Morgan Philpot as the party's nominee to run for the 2nd District seat.
Philpot is a former state lawmaker and resigned his post as vice chairman of the state Republican Party earlier this year to focus on his congressional campaign.
FOX 13's Katy Carlyle reports.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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