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SALT LAKE CITY — Republican Celeste Maloy has raised over $450,000 in her bid to replace former Rep. Chris Stewart in the U.S. House of Representatives, while Democrat Kathleen Riebe has more cash on hand heading into the final month of a truncated special election campaign.
Between Aug. 17 and Sept. 30, Maloy raised $145,000 compared to Riebe's $104,000, though the GOP convention winner has incurred more than $400,000 in campaign expenses this year as she faced a narrow three-way primary for the party's nomination, according to recent candidate filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Riebe now has $84,000 to spend ahead of the Nov. 21 general election, compared to Maloy's $53,000.
While money raised can be a signal of support for candidates and give them a bigger platform for spreading their message, it's not necessarily an indicator of who will win. Both of Maloy's primary challengers, Becky Edwards and Bruce Hough, had significantly more cash in their campaign coffers but were unable to turn that into a victory.
Maloy, who served as chief legal staffer to Stewart, has enjoyed endorsements from Stewart and former Rep. Rob Bishop, and got an implicit nod of support from Gov. Spencer Cox.
Here's the full fundraising breakdown for the three top candidates still in the race to replace Stewart, including numbers from the second and third quarters:
- Celeste Maloy, Republican: Maloy has received $342,000 from individual donors and more than $113,000 from political action committees and other groups. Her campaign has spent $405,000, primarily on media, advertising and consulting fees.
- Kathleen Riebe, Democrat: Riebe has raised $198,000, the majority of which came from individual contributors. She has spent $114,000 on consulting, media and other campaign expenses.
- January Walker, United Utah Party: Walker has raised $8,200 from donors and spent $4,300, the majority of which went to a graphic design firm. She has just under $3,900 on hand.
Senate fundraising
Three Republican candidates are already squaring off to replace Sen. Mitt Romney in 2024, and two of them have boosted their campaigns with large personal loans.
Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson, who is resigning to pursue the campaign next month, loaned his campaign $1.2 million in June and another $600,000 in September. He's garnered more than $1.4 million from individual donors since April and has nearly $2.9 million on hand.
Roosevelt Mayor Rod Bird Jr. has also staked a large amount of personal wealth on his campaign by loaning $1 million to go along with $67,000 raised from individuals. Bird has just over $1 million on hand.
Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs has raised nearly $482,000 from individuals and loaned his campaign $50,000. He has $438,000 on hand after spending more than $83,000 on campaign expenses.
