Utah is one of ten states where more than three-quarters of lawmakers are Republican.
A political advocacy group that began as a project of Crooked Media, the parent company of “Pod Save America,” says it is putting $20,000 toward recruiting candidates to attempt to unseat 10 of the Legislature’s 82 GOP members next year.
The podcast hosted by aides to former President Barack Obama was ranked the 11th most listened to nationwide in the first quarter of this year, and debuted when President Donald Trump first took office in 2017.
Shaniqua McClendon, who leads the political action committee Vote Save America, said in a statement, “Utah is uniquely positioned for change.
“It’s the youngest state in the country,” she continued, “one of the fastest-growing, and the most college-educated red state. ... There’s an independent streak here that national politics has ignored for too long.”
Just over half of Utah voters are registered Republicans, and the next largest category of voters is unaffiliated. In November, nearly 60% of Utahns cast their vote for Trump.
Vote Save America’s donation will go to the political action committee for left-leaning Utah political consulting firm Elevate Strategies, the group announced Tuesday. It will target GOP lawmakers appearing on the ballot in 2026 who currently represent districts covering Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties.
Among those Republican legislators is the representative who introduced the anti-union law that is subject to a referendum in the same election, the representative who pushed through a law enabling the state to ban certain books from all public schools and the senator who proposed Utah’s blocked near-total abortion ban.
All of the ten lawmakers Elevate PAC is targeting faced at least one challenger in their last general election, except Dunnigan.
“We’re done waiting for the political establishment to fix itself,” said Gabi Finlayson, the president of Elevate PAC, in a statement. “This partnership with Vote Save America gives us the resources and reach to go find the people who’ve been shut out or ignored — people with real stakes in their communities, not just the usual insiders."
Among the lawmakers targeted, Koford, during the 2024 election, had the closest race, beating Democratic incumbent Rep. Rosemary Lesser by less than 2% — 50.98% to 49.02%. MacPherson’s race was next closest, as he beat Democrat Jeanetta Williams by a margin of 53.62% to 46.38%.
Other than Dunnigan, who had no challenger last cycle, it was Teuscher who won most handily of the targeted Republicans, beating Democrat Greg Green 61.01% to 38.99%.
McCay and Cullimore won their previous Senate races by significant margins, and both faced Democratic and third-party challengers in 2022. McCay garnered 66.39% of the vote, while Cullimore won 58.44% of the vote during his last contest.
Rep. Candice Pierucci (R-Herriman), who serves as the House majority whip, shared a statement Tuesday on behalf the House Republican PAC responding to the announcement that Vote Save America and Elevate planned to target 10 GOP seats.
“Utah is consistently recognized for its outstanding quality of life, booming economy, low unemployment, remarkable public safety, and world-class outdoor recreation — all thanks to conservative, principled leadership,” the statement read. “Conservative leadership delivers results: lower taxes, safer communities, and real investment in local businesses and families. Legislators here don’t seek headlines — they build, they serve, and they listen.”
Pierucci added, “The suggestions that Utah’s conservative lawmakers are ‘vulnerable’ or fall out of step with community ideals are unfounded. Make no mistake: these elected officials remain committed to their constituents, undeterred by outside forces and unfazed by political noise. Utah is strong because of that commitment, and we will continue working to keep it that way.”
Several of the lawmakers whose seats were on the list of targets released Tuesday morning took aim at Vote Save America’s parent group in response to the announcement.
“I think the public will likely be careful about supporting candidates who are funded by an organization called Crooked Media,” MacPherson wrote in a text message. “I’ll continue to stand up for and represent my constituents, not be intimidated by outside interests funded by out-of-state money.”
Teuscher said it was “laughable that a group like Vote Save America — run by liberal podcasters from California — thinks they understand what matters to Utahns."
He added, “Their attempt to parachute into our state and hand-pick candidates to push a national left-wing agenda won’t go unnoticed.” And he is not surprised the group chose to target his district.
“I’ve led on issues that matter to Utahns — limited government, low taxes, and local control — conservative principles that have made our state the best-managed in the nation,“ Teuscher said in his statement. ”Frankly, the last thing Utah needs is political advice from a state with sky-high taxes, crushing regulations, and a mass exodus of its own residents."
While Crooked Media is headquartered in Los Angeles, the Vote Save America PAC is registered in Washington, D.C.
“Competition is good for democracy,” Okerlund, one of the other targeted Republicans, said in an email. “It helps an incumbent remain responsive, engaged and connected to the citizens he or she represents. And if he or she isn’t engaged, it’s a great chance for change. I represent a very politically active district so I expect to have frequent challengers like my predecessor did. I welcome the challenge and think that in the end it’s the citizens who win when there is a good battle of ideas.”
Along with their announcement Tuesday morning, the Elevate Utah PAC released a recruitment tracker, which noted, so far, the group had recruited a candidate for House District 10 — to challenge Koford — and that recruitment for a challenger to MacPherson in House District 26 was “in progress.” The rest of the districts were listed, as of Tuesday morning, as having “no candidate” yet recruited.
“We’re not running everywhere. We’re running smart,” the recruitment website reads. “We’ve identified 10 competitive districts where the numbers, the moment, and the map align. In each one, we’re focused on finding the right candidate and making sure they have the training, support, and infrastructure to win.”
In a statement shared with The Tribune Tuesday afternoon, Rob Axson, the chair of the Utah Republican Party, said the lawmakers that Vote Save America plan to challenge “are being targeted because they’ve stood strong for Utah values: liberty, family, and life.”
Axson added, “Out-of-state PACs like Pod Save America don’t represent Utahns. Their record is one of out-of-state money trying to buy influence rather than the record of accomplishment and service Republican legislators provide. We’ll proudly defend our Utah legislators and keep fighting for the principles that make Utah strong.”
Note to readers, 4:35 p.m. • This story has been updated to include a statement from Rob Axson, the chair of the Utah Republican Party.