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Money rolling in for Ben McAdams in his race against Mia Love

Raised $502K, has $469K in cash on hand. Love had $310K in cash at end of previous reporting period<br>

(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Ben McAdams, mayor of Salt Lake County and candidate for Utah's 4th Congressional District. Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams meets with the Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board at the paper's offices in Salt Lake City Monday September 19, 2016.

  | Jan. 9, 2018, 9:26 p.m.
| Updated: Jan. 11, 2018, 9:35 p.m.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams is off to a quick start in raising funds for his campaign against Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah.

While year-end reports are not due until Jan. 31, he provided an early peek Tuesday, saying he raised $502,000 in the 2½ months since he announced he is challenging Love.

The Democrat said he has $469,000 in cash on hand. That was more than the $310,689 that Love had on hand Sept. 30, the end of the past quarterly reporting period.

Dave Hansen, campaign manager for Love, said her accounting firm is still compiling year-end numbers, and information about them is not yet available.

He said he’s not surprised at the quick start by McAdams, but added that maintaining it may be difficult.

“We expected that McAdams would do well on this first report because it’s a lot of the low-hanging fruit,” he said. “It gets tougher as time goes on.”

McAdams said most of his donations came from within Utah — and from small donors rather than political action committees.

He said 95 percent of the contributions were from individuals; 90 percent came from within Utah; and the median contribution was $50.

“It is extremely gratifying that so many grass-roots Utahns have offered their enthusiastic and generous support,” McAdams said in a news release.

“Folks here are tired of partisan gridlock and excited about being represented by someone with a proven record of bringing people together to get things done,” he said.

The Love-McAdams race is expected to be the most competitive congressional race in Utah this year. A Dan Jones and Associates poll for The Salt Lake Tribune in October showed Love with a 48 percent to 42 percent lead over McAdams at that time, with 9 percent undecided.

Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune Mia Love is introduced during a rally at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center Thursday August 16, 2012. John McCain spoke Thursday evening to a crowd of about 250 at a rally for the Love campaign, part of a swing through Western states by the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. Love is squaring off against Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson in the stateÕs new 4th District Congressional District.

Love has been involved in several close or competitive races.

She lost in 2012 to Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson by 768 votes out of more than 245,000 cast; in 2014, she beat Democrat Doug Owens by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin; and, in 2016, she won a rematch with Owens by 54 percent to 41 percent.