Derek Brown wins GOP primary for Utah attorney general

Derek Brown, former state GOP chair and senior staffer for U.S. Sen. Mike Lee won the Republican primary for Utah Attorney General .

The big picture: Brown received the lion's share of endorsements from the Utah GOP establishment, including Lee, Gov. Spencer Cox, former Gov. Gary Herbert, former U.S. Rep. Mia Love and several state lawmakers.

By the numbers: Brown received about 45% of the vote as of midnight Wednesday.

• Rachel Terry, director of the state's risk management office was at 33%.
• Frank Mylar, a Cottonwood Heights attorney, received nearly 22%.

Catch up quick: Brown will face three other candidates in November to replace outgoing AG Sean Reyes — the third state AG in a row to leave office amid controversy.

• Reyes announced in December he would not seek re-election after facing scrutiny over his ties to embattled anti-sex-trafficking crusader Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), the nonprofit Ballard founded.
• AG John Swallow, who preceded Reyes, resigned in 2013 amid investigations into an alleged pay-for-play scheme.
• Swallow and his predecessor, AG Mark Shurtleff, were arrested in 2014 on charges relating to public corruption. Prosecutors dropped their case against Shurtleff in 2016 and in 2017 Swallow was acquitted by a jury .