This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The super PAC backed by House Republicans is dumping $500,000 in advertising into Utah to bolster Rep. Mia Love in the final weeks of her race against Democrat Doug Owens.
The Congressional Leadership Fund said Friday the spending would be on TV and digital ads.
While mail-in ballots are already in the hands of many Utah voters, this campaign, which by law is separate from Love's efforts, begins Oct. 25.
This spending is in part to counter $380,000 in TV advertising from the House Majority PAC, which is associated with congressional Democrats.
The 4th District rematch between these two candidates has drawn the most advertising in the state, though recent polls don't show it to be all that close.
The last Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute poll from mid-September found Love, the first-term incumbent, ahead by 18 percentage points.
She beat Owens by just five percentage points in 2014.
The Owens camp argues the Tribune-Hinckley poll came out before much of the TV advertising and that the race has tightened in recent weeks.
The new outside spending to benefit Love is part of an additional $10 million the Congressional Leadership Fund is spending in 15 House races, a decision made days after a 2005 video of Donald Trump emerged showing him saying crude things about women, some of which would constitute sexual assault.
Outside groups tend to focus money on races they believe are competitive.