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Find KUER's reporting on the races, candidates and more for Utah’s 2018 midterm elections. Click here for our graphics of the U.S. Senate race, 4 Congressional races and Utah ballot initiatives.

Mia Love, Ben McAdams Raking In Cash Ahead Of Heated 4th District Race

side by side of mcadams and love.
KUER
Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, have about the same cash on hand, $1.2 million, according to their latest financial filings.

Incumbent Rep. Mia Love, R-Saratoga Springs, and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, her Democratic challenger, are bringing in record cash as they head into an increasingly competitive election this November.

Love raised a total of $1 million this quarter, according to her latest campaign fundraising report. McAdams, over the same period, raised $620,000.

Overall, Love has raised nearly double the amount of money this election cycle than McAdams while outspending him six-fold, Federal Election Commission records show. To date, Love has raised $3.3 million and spent $2.6 million.

Meanwhile, McAdams took in nearly $1.7 million overall and has spent only $428,000.

Credit FEC.gov

For the final stretch of the campaign, both McAdams and Love have roughly $1.2 million cash on hand, with McAdams holding a slight advantage.

Love is running for a third term in the congressional district — ranked as Utah’s most competitive. Polls show the candidates locked in a statistical dead heat, with Real Clear Politics rating the race as a “Toss Up.”

 

Besides being the state’s tightest contest, Utah’s 4th District has been one of the most expensive House races since its creation in 2010 redistricting. Before that, Utah only had three congressional districts.

Love has broken Utah fundraising records since she first ran for office in 2012. She lost that campaign to Democrat Jim Matheson but came back in 2014 to beat Democrat Doug Owens.

Love, the first black Republican woman elected to Congress, also outraised Utah’s three other Republican incumbents this cycle.

Federal Election Commission data show Love received a majority of donations from out of state contributors.

In dueling press releases, Love and McAdams lobbed barbs at each other reflecting the increasingly high-stakes nature of the race.

“Between Ben’s recent gaffes with the massive high-density Olympia Hills development near the Herriman area, his extensive employment history with Hillary and Bill Clinton, his wishy-washy rhetoric regarding abortion and the fact that he doesn’t even live in the 4th district, voters are realizing Ben just isn’t someone they can trust,” Love said in the statement.

McAdams lives in the 2nd Congressional District, though residency within a district’s boundaries is not a federal requirement for a candidate to run for public office in Utah.

In his own release, McAdams swung back, noting the large number of donations he received from in-state donors and pointing to Love’s fiscal voting record.

“During her time in Congress, Rep. Love has blown the federal deficit up into the stratosphere — and her campaign report shows she’s can’t seem to stop spending no matter where she goes,” McAdams said. "She spends it nearly as fast as she raises it, which shows her true lack of fiscal conservatism.”

Credit opensecrets.org

Julia joined KUER in 2016 after a year reporting at the NPR member station in Reno, Nev. During her stint, she covered battleground politics, school overcrowding, and any story that would take her to the crystal blue shores of Lake Tahoe. Her work earned her two regional Edward R. Murrow awards. Originally from the mountains of Western North Carolina, Julia graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2008 with a degree in journalism. She’s worked as both a print and radio reporter in several states and several countries — from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to Dakar, Senegal. Her curiosity about the American West led her to take a spontaneous, one-way road trip to the Great Basin, where she intends to continue preaching the gospel of community journalism, public radio and podcasting. In her spare time, you’ll find her hanging with her beagle Bodhi, taking pictures of her food and watching Patrick Swayze movies.
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