The money math is brutal heading into Utah’s June 23 congressional primary elections. In CD2, Blake Moore has 32 times more cash on hand than his challenger. In CD3, Celste Maloy has 33 times more.
CD1 Democratic Primary
Ben McAdams has raised $1.91 million this cycle, spent $1.57 million, and still has $836K cash on hand heading into the primary homestretch. McAdams raised $368K in the most recent report. About 85% of the individual donors to his campaign are from Utah, who account for just over half the money he’s raised during the cycle.
Several prominent Utah donors, including the Quinney family (David and Shari) and Koshrow Semnani gave large ($7,000) donations to McAdams’ campaign.
McAdams raised just under $50,000 from 16 PACs, including the National Association of Realtors ($10K).
State Senator Nate Blouin has raised about $643,000 cycle-to-date with $232,000 cash on hand. He raised just under $117,000 during the most recent reporting period. His donors are more geographically spread out, with 72% from Utah and just under 12% from California. He has just under $56,000 cash-on-hand.
Last month, Blouin landed a guest spot on progressive streamer Hasan Piker's show, the kind of exposure that can light up small-dollar fundraising overnight. There’s not much evidence that happened, though.
The week of May 11-17, when Blouin appeared on Piker's stream, was actually his worst fundraising week of the entire filing period, just $5,400 across 32 transactions. The day of the appearance itself? $1,020 from seven donors. The days after were equally quiet.
Blouin's campaign disputed those totals, asserting small dollar donations tell a much different story. A campaign official said his appearance on Piker's show resulted in nearly $7,300 in direct donations, and they raised nearly $16,900 during the entire week. Campaigns are only required to itemize contributions when a donor gives $200 or more, so that data is not available publicly.
Liban Mohamed raised $287,000 so far this cycle, but $46,000 of that is his own money. Only 10% of his contributors are from Utah, with the bulk coming from Washington state, Minnesota and Virginia.
He enters the homestretch with just $112,000 on hand, leaving him with little for a get-out-the-vote operation.
Michael Farrell has the most individual donors in the most recent reporting period, but they're not writing big checks. His ActBlue donation list is long, but the amounts are small, with most contributions falling between $5 and $50. He’s personally loaned his campaign $200,000 across four transactions and has just $39,000 cash on hand.
CD2 GOP primary
Incumbent Republican Blake Moore has raised $2.3 million this cycle. Karianne Lisonbee has raised $177,000. Moore has $1.95 million cash on hand; Lisonbee has under $60,000. That's a 13-1 fundraising gap and a 32-1 cash advantage.
A significant chunk of Moore's money, $1.3 million, has come from PACs, corporate donors and fellow House members, which tracks for a member of GOP leadership.
Moore’s campaign also cut checks to two Utah legislative candidates: $2,500 to Bob Stevenson, who is primarying incumbent GOP Rep. Trevor Lee in HD16, and $1,000 to Kara Toone in HD14.
Meanwhile, Lisonbee used donor funds to repay a $4,000 campaign loan she'd made to herself, and reported more than $17,000 in personal reimbursements on top of that, meaning she took back at least 15 cents of every dollar her campaign spent last period.
Lisonbee’s lack of campaign cash means her operation had to use old-school campaign tactics, spending heavily on ad buys through the Deseret News ($33,600) and texting outreach to voters ($5,000). Moore dropped $248,000 on media placement and $40,000 on polling.
Offsetting Moore's cash edge, the Defending Conservative Values PAC, which appears tied to a close political ally of Sen. Mike Lee, has burned nearly $132,000 on digital ads attacking Moore. Lisonbee also paid $6,000 in consulting fees to Michael Jolley, who served as a communications staffer in Lee's Senate office from 2017 to 2019. She also cut a $5,000 check to Eagle Equine Products for advertising, a company Jolley owns.
Jolley has been attacking Moore relentlessly on his X account, without disclosing that he is on Lisonbee’s payroll or that he currently lives in Georgia.
CD3 GOP primary
The money gap in CD3 isn’t as dramatic as CD2, but it’s close. Celeste Maloy raised $308,000 during the most recent period compared to Phil Lyman's $38,000, an 8-1 advantage, and she holds more than 33 times as much cash on hand heading into primary day.
Lyman’s campaign is propped up heavily by his own funds. He's made $22,500 in loans to his own operation and kicked in another $10,000 in May. The $22,000 in itemized donations on his most recent report came from just 22 individual donors.
Maloy reported donations from six people connected to The Bernhardt Group, the consulting firm run by former Trump Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who played a significant role in the shrinking of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments during Trump's first term. She's also pulled in $119,000 from 44 PAC contributions.
Despite the robust fundraising, Maloy’s campaign lists more than $143K in outstanding debt for fundraising, signature gathering and advertising.
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