Congressman Chris Stewart in the 2023 Utah 2nd congressional district special election, losing the primary to Celeste Maloy.

[6] Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Hughes never knew his father and was brought up by a single mother who sold cemetery plots on commission.

She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and married when Hughes was five, but the marriage ended in divorce by the time he was ten.

He served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

[19] In 2018, The Salt Lake Tribune reported on a conflict-of-interest controversy as part of on ongoing federal probe into the Utah Transit Authority (UTA).

Newly-released documents from 2016 show that UTA believed that "Greg Hughes' proposed participation in this project, even if it is just as an investor, appears to be a conflict of interest."

[15] Hughes is a self-employed property manager and developer,[23] and has served on the board of the Utah Transit Authority.