In her last campaign financial report before the Nov. 3 general election, former Midway Mayor Celeste Johnson reported $149,000 in fundraising.
She’s spent just over two-thirds of that.
The Democrat is running to flip a red Utah House seat blue. District 59 covers Republican-dominated Wasatch County and the town of Park City, where Democrats fare better.
The Republican candidate is Wasatch County Councilmember Luke Searle, who has raised $82,000 this year and spent $67,000.
That makes District 59 the spendiest state-level contest in the Wasatch Back this year.
Johnson’s lump sums come from groups opposed to the Legislature’s Republican supermajority, by way of political action committees.
That includes Better Boundaries, the group that fought Republican state legislators over Utah’s federal congressional maps.
It funded an effort to keep Utah’s anti-gerrymandering and independent redistricting law, Prop 4, in place and off this November’s ballot. Better Boundaries PACs gave Johnson about $30,000 this year.
Elevate Utah, a progressive political group known for organizing against Kevin O’Leary’s Box Elder County data center, gave her $20,000.
Searle pulled in $24,000 from PACs that work to reelect Republicans to the Utah Legislature.
The figures are totals based on the four financial disclosures candidates filed since January. They’ll report spending and contributions at least once more after the Nov. 3 election.
In District 4, covering the rest of Summit County, plus Morgan and Rich counties, a Democratic challenger has also raised more than the incumbent Republican.
Zane Woolstenhulme has raised $45,000 to Rep. Tiara Auxier’s $30,000. However, they’re about even in spending because Auxier started with money in the bank.
In Utah Senate District 20, incumbent GOP Sen. Ron Winterton has spent $37,000 to Forward Party candidate Annette McRae’s $2,500.
Summit County clerk candidate Suni Woolstenhulme has raised $30,000 in her bid to flip that office from blue to red. That includes $10,000 contributions from the Summit County GOP and SunCon, Inc., a Wanship-based Woolstenhulme family business.
Incumbent Malena Stevens has raised about $20,000 from a host of fellow Park City-area Democrats.
