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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Five-term U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon was fighting for his political career Tuesday, challenged by a millionaire real estate developer who has portrayed the incumbent as soft on illegal immigration.
It's the same argument Cannon himself made 10 years ago in unseating the incumbent in the 3rd Congressional District.
Challenging Cannon in Utah's GOP primary Tuesday was John Jacob, who made headlines last week by suggesting that Satan has had a hand in the difficulties faced by his campaign.
Polls close at 8 p.m. MDT.
The 3rd District race has focused primarily on who stands taller in opposition to Bush's call for a path to citizenship for some 11 million illegal immigrants.
Cannon voted last December for a House bill that would toughen border security, criminalize people who help illegal immigrants and make being in the U.S. without the required papers a felony. But he also supports Bush's proposal for a guest-worker program and says "there's massive room for negotiation."
Cannon's willingness to compromise made him a target of Team America, a conservative group that calls illegal immigration the most critical problem facing the nation. It spent $40,000 on radio ads criticizing him.
Jacob favors returning illegal immigrants to their home countries before giving them a shot at U.S. citizenship and punishing businesses for hiring them.
Brigham Young University political scientist Kelly Patterson said Jacob has a small but vocal group of supporters who are frustrated by Cannon's views on immigration. That could give Jacob an edge if voters focused on other issues didn't go to the polls Tuesday, he said.
State elections officials predicted voter turnout at 12 percent to 14 percent. High voter turnout tends to favor incumbents, Patterson said.
At the state Republican convention last month, Jacob captured 52 percent of the delegate votes while Cannon got 48 percent. Sixty percent was needed to avoid Tuesday's primary.
The winner will face Democrat Christian Burridge, among others, in November in a district that anyone but a Republican has little chance of winning. Bush carried the 3rd District with 77 percent of the vote in 2004.
The sprawling district, which stretches south from Salt Lake County and west to Nevada, is heavily Mormon and predominantly white. Hispanics make up about 10 percent of the population; blacks less than 1 percent.
In 1996, Cannon won the seat, in part by arguing that the Democratic incumbent, U.S. Rep. Bill Orton, was soft on immigration. In 2004, Cannon's actions on the issue prompted conservatives to back Matt Throckmorton, who managed 42 percent in his GOP primary loss.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
