SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s hotly contested races for governor and the 4th Congressional seat held by Rep. Ben McAdams, the state’s only Democrat in Congress, got a little less crowded Saturday after Republican and Democratic party delegates eliminated some of the contenders during their first-ever virtual state conventions.

State Democrats overwhelmingly voted to send McAdams and gubernatorial candidate Chris Peterson, a University of Utah law professor, straight to the November ballot, while Republicans already have primary elections in both of those races after some candidates chose to gather voter signatures to guarantee they’d be on the June ballot.

In the GOP race for governor, Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and former Utah GOP Chairman Thomas Wright are already on the primary ballot. Republican delegates advanced both Cox and former House Speaker Greg Hughes to the ballot, making the GOP gubernatorial primary a four-way race.

Out of the running as a result of the delegate vote are Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton, entrepreneur Jeff Burningham, and perennial candidate Jason Christensen. Another candidate, Jan Garbett, chose not to compete at the convention but didn’t collect enough signatures to qualify for the primary and is suing the state.

In the ranked-choice balloting, the first candidate knocked out was Christensen, followed by Huntsman, Burningham, Wright and Winder Newton. In the final round, Cox has just over 52% of the vote to 43% for Hughes, short of the more than 60% needed to win the delegate vote outright.

“Wow,” Cox tweeted after his victory. “I’m blown away by the incredible support and honored to be the GOP convention winner. Thanks to the delegates for your service and support tonight. And thank you for helping us prove that running a positive campaign really can win.”

Hughes, the candidate who never attempted to gather voter signatures, also thanked delegates in a tweet, saying he is “a proud supporter of the caucus/convention system. It has been a high-information election cycle as we have had the tough conversations about the future of our state. We are excited to take that into the Primary.”

There will also be four candidates in the 4th Congressional District GOP primary after Republican delegates nominated state Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan, and former NFL player Burgess Owens. Owens, along with former KSL Newsradio host Jay Mcfarland and non-profit CEO Trent Christensen, already qualified for the ballot.

The race is over for former Utah GOP communications advisor Kathleen Anderson; nurse practitioner Chris Biesinger; and businesswoman Cindy Thompson, who only competed at the convention. So did Coleman, but she had been confident she would win delegate support. She ended up with 54% of the vote.

“This was a first-place finish and for that we are grateful,” Coleman said in a statement. “But is it only part of the battle. We know that our campaign is in the best position to win this race — we have the support, the funding and the organization to hit the ground running on Monday. CD4 is a solidly Republican district and we will prove that once again when we defeat Ben McAdams this November.”

In the 3rd Congressional District, Republican delegates nominated Rep. John Curtis to the general election ballot, choosing him over Tim Aalders. Curtis’ Democratic opponent in November will be Devin Thorpe, the winner at his party’s convention.

Rep. Chris Stewart also secured his party’s nomination in the 2nd Congressional District and will face the Democratic delegates’ nominee, Kael Weston.

GOP delegates winnowed the field in the 1st Congressional District, where a dozen Republicans hoped to secure the nomination for the seat held by longtime Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who is not seeking reelection but is a candidate for lieutenant governor.

Former state lawmaker Kerry Gibson and former U.S. foreign service officer Blake David Moore were both selected by delegates and join Kaysville Mayor Katie Witt and Davis County Commissioner Bob Stevenson on the primary ballot.

There will be a Democratic primary between Darren Parry and Jamie Cheek in the 1st Congressional District.

Republican delegates also sent Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes to a primary election, with Utah County Attorney David Leavitt. Former Attorney General John Swallow was knocked out in the first round of balloting in the already heated race.

Democratic Attorney General candidate Greg Skordas easily won his party’s nomination with more than 96% of the vote.

Republicans didn’t finish tabulating results in key races until after midnight. Delegates in both parties cast ranked-choice ballots electronically after reviewing videotaped speeches from the candidates posted online, skipping the usual convention fanfare due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Utah GOP Chairman Derek Brown announced on Facebook about 8:30 p.m. that party delegates who’d had technical difficulties and had to cast their ballots over the phone had finally finished voting. Voting using an app had been underway since Thursday among the more than 3,800 GOP delegates.

Democrats announced results of the more than 2,100 delegate votes cast in an online news conference Saturday afternoon.

McAdams had just over 89% of the Democratic delegate vote over challenger Daniel Beckstrand, who had told delegates he supported the Green New Deal, universal health care and other progressive causes.

The congressman was unable to join the news conference, but said in a statement he is “grateful to the delegates for their participation and for supporting my continued service as an independent voice for our state in Washington.”

McAdams said he’s “eager to continue fighting to make sure health care is affordable and accessible for all Utahns as well as finding ways to work with leaders from parties to get our country safely reopened and our economy back on track.”

The 4th District race had been viewed as one of the country’s most competitive, but national rating outlets have recently given McAdams the edge. A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll found the district’s voters are split over reelecting McAdams, but two-thirds of likely GOP voters aren’t sure which Republican they support.

Utah Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Merchant said because McAdams had a narrow victory in 2018, beating then-Rep. Mia Love by less than 700 votes, “giving him the ability to jump right in and not be distracted by a primary will be very helpful to him.”

Peterson, who worked for the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau under President Barack Obama, was one of six Democrats running for governor. Delegates gave him more than 88% of the vote over former state lawmaker Neil Hansen; travel company executive Zachary Moses, Archie A. Williams III, Nikki Ray Pino and Ryan Jackson.

“I believe that our government needs to do more to help ordinary working families” during the COVID-19 crisis, Peterson told delegates, including “pumping the brakes on evictions and foreclosures.” He said Democrats have an opportunity because of “some pretty feckless and irresponsible leadership” from Republicans in Washington, D.C.

It’s been 40 years since Utah has elected a Democratic governor, and Peterson acknowledged the race will be a “tough uphill climb. The simple fact is whoever emerges from the Republican Party on the other side is going to have a lot more money than me.”

But Peterson said he believes there are a lot of “moderates who are willing to maybe consider a change.” The governor’s seat is open, with Gov. Gary Herbert not seeking re-election after winning two terms as lieutenant governor and then serving more than a decade as governor.

Democrats also approved a resolution demanding the governor and Legislature “disregard any directive from President Trump in regards to COVID-19 response that is not solidly supported by the best available evidence and science” and calling for “a slow, careful, and strategic lessening of social distancing and lockdown measures.”

A video was posted on the Utah Democratic Party’s convention website from former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee who came in second in Utah’s Super Tuesday presidential primary behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Biden thanked Utah Democrats for their “hard work to elect Democrats up and down the ballot” and called beating GOP President Donald Trump “our first and most important mission.” In a separate video, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennett praised fellow Democrat McAdams for providing a “blueprint” for winning in GOP-dominated areas.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly spelled Kael Weston’s name as Kael Westons.