Sen. Mike Lee continues to set a blistering fundraising pace in his bid for another term in Congress, raising nearly four times as much as his four Republican challengers combined. And the two-term senator has a war chest six times larger than the GOP field of candidates.
The most recent Federal Election Commission financial disclosures show Lee raised $1.189 million during the first three months of 2022. That’s more than double the $523,142 his campaign reported in the final quarter of last year. His re-election effort has raised $5.3 million since the beginning of last year.
Lee’s two primary challengers for the GOP nomination, Becky Edwards and Ally Isom, lagged far behind in the fundraising game. Edwards recorded just over $200,000 in campaign donations, while Isom’s contributions totaled $126,000. Evan Barlow and Laird Hamblin, the other Republicans in the race, reported $390 and $105 in total donations, respectively.
Lee, Edwards and Isom all submitted the required 28,000 signatures to advance to the June primary election, making them safe from elimination at the hands of delegates at the state convention later this month. Securing those signatures was costly for the three candidates.
Lee paid local company Gather more than $423,000 to help get back on the ballot. The high cost of Lee’s effort was due to an exclusive contract to prevent the firm from assisting one of his opponents.
In the last two quarters, Isom has paid nearly $214,000 to RPC communications to handle signature gathering for her campaign. Edwards’ signature-gathering costs were significantly lower as she relied on paid individuals and volunteers, reporting she’s spent just under $35,000 on the effort.
Lee is in good financial shape ahead of the 10-week sprint to the June 28 primary and has more than $2.4 million in cash on hand. In comparison, Edwards is holding just over $286,000, while Isom has nearly $98,000 cash on hand. Edwards loaned her campaign $380,000, and Isom chipped in $100,000 of her money.
Democrat Kael Weston’s fundraising efforts lagged far behind the Republicans. His campaign tallied just under $70,000 in donations and nearly $44,000 in cash.
Some Utah Democrats are pushing the party not to give the nomination to Weston to boost independent candidate Evan McMullin’s chances of defeating Lee in November. McMullin does not have to file a financial disclosure until later in the month.
In Utah’s 4th Congressional District, Rep. Burgess Owens continues to raise money hand over fist, pulling in $382,646 for the quarter and just over $2 million in total for the 2022 election cycle. That robust fundraising has come in handy as the Owens campaign has spent nearly twice as much as they raised in 2022. So far this election cycle, they’ve spent almost $100,000 more than they’ve raised.
Owens still has nearly $400,000 in the bank, which dwarfs the $24,405 on the balance sheet of Republican challenger Jake Hunsaker. Hunsaker qualified for the primary ballot through signature gathering. On Tuesday, Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s “Country First” organization donated $5,000 to Hunsaker’s campaign. Kinzinger is one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He is also supporting McMullin’s effort against Lee.
Rep. Chris Stewart is facing his first-ever primary election against Erin Rider. Rider secured her spot on the primary ballot through signature gathering, paying Gather nearly $9,000 to help with that effort.
Stewart heads into that primary with a significant cash advantage over Rider, reporting $376,000 in available campaign cash, while Rider has a little less than $40,000 in the bank.
Rep. Blake Moore is guaranteed to advance to the June primary against Tina Cannon. The two Republicans advanced through the signature path. Three other Republicans, Julie Fullmer, William Campbell and Andrew Badger, hope to secure enough support from delegates to join them on the ballot.
Moore has more than $500,000 in the bank, while Cannon reported just over $41,000.
All five Republicans running in the 1st Congressional District, which covers most of Northern Utah, boosted their campaign bottom lines with their own funds. Moore’s $268,000 in campaign debt is leftover from loans he made to his campaign in 2020. Cannon loaned her campaign more than $80,000.
Fullmer lists $90,000 in personal loans and another $15,000 still owing to campaign vendors. Vowing not to accept contributions, William Campbell loaned his campaign more than $265,000. Badger contributed $21,890 to his campaign to pay for services.
None of the five Republicans running in Utah’s 3rd District submitted signatures to qualify for the ballot, which means the nomination lies entirely in the hands of delegates. Incumbent John Curtis reports just over $772,000 in cash on hand after raising nearly $200,000 this quarter.
Tim Aalders is pumping massive amounts of his own money into his campaign against incumbent Curtis, hoping to advance to the primary or win the nomination outright. Over the last ten days, Aalders has loaned his campaign more than $1.2 million.
Jason Preston’s campaign filed its disclosure form after the Monday deadline. He reports just under $18,000 in cash on hand.
Previously, The Salt Lake Tribune uncovered an internal campaign memo suggesting Preston’s campaign had hired veteran political operative Roger Stone, along with several of his associates who had connections to the far-right Proud Boys. Preston’s disclosure shows a $2,500 payment to Adrienna DiCioccio for political consulting, which matches a down payment for campaign services mentioned in the memo.
Financial information was not available for Chris Herrod or Lyman Wight.
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