In Republican-dominated Utah, Vice President Kamala Harris has more than doubled Republican Donald Trump’s fundraising since entering the race for the White House on July 21, posting a $1.25 million advantage in that span, according to the most recent campaign finance reports from the candidates.
Harris has raised $2.36 million in Utah since she joined the race after President Joe Biden dropped out following an abysmal debate performance. Trump has raised $1.08 million in the same period of time.
When Biden exited, he and Trump were basically neck-and-neck when it came to financial support from Utah. But with her big advantage in the last quarter and the transfer of Biden’s campaign account to his vice president, she holds a commanding advantage — $3.94 million to $2.76 million — in Utah, according to the latest reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission.
“I think it is interesting. I don’t know that it’s going to change the vote, but it’s a sign that donors in Utah have gravitated to Harris in a substantial way, relative to their share of voters in the state,” said David Magleby, a long-time Brigham Young University political science professor who has studied money in politics. “If we elected presidents by dollars donated, she would carry Utah, so that’s sort of a way to frame how remarkable it is, and it’s highly unlikely that she will do so.”
Trump is all but guaranteed to win Utah and its six electoral votes. Utah has only gone to the Democratic candidate once in the last 18 presidential elections — Lyndon Johnson’s victory in 1964. A poll released last week showed Trump leading Harris 54%-39% in the state.
Harris’ haul for the 2024 election is the most any Democratic presidential candidate has raised in Utah, surpassing the $3.1 million Biden raised in 2020 with the October and November reports yet to come. Her donors include film director and Sundance Film Festival founder Robert Redford and his wife, who donated $5,000 to the campaign.
Magleby said the totals are particularly noteworthy since they cover a period of time where Trump held an airport fundraiser in Salt Lake City on Sept. 14 that presumably would have bolstered his Utah numbers.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Donald Trump's plane lands at Salt Lake City International Airport on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.
Donating to candidates, Magleby said, is a way for Utah Democrats “wanting to be in the game” to feel like they had an impact, even if they know their votes won’t matter.
“They can signal support and try to make a difference through dollars,” he said. “So what this says to me is there’s enthusiasm on the part of donors for Harris more than there is enthusiasm among donors for Trump — and that’s a pretty remarkable statement.”
It is not the first time that Trump has been out-raised by a Democratic opponent. In 2016, he raised just $726,563 in Utah, compared to the $1.26 million haul by Hillary Clinton. In 2020, though, the $3.7 million the Trump campaign raised in Utah eclipsed Biden’s total by $600,000.
Unsurprisingly, Mitt Romney set the record for presidential candidates in Utah, bringing in more than $9.2 million from supporters in the state during his 2012 bid.
“All we get is a lousy hat”
The relationship between Utah voters and Trump has been complicated from the start. Some, including members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been put off by his bombastic tone, his infidelity and mistreatment of women, and his oftentimes harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric. Trump has denied many of these allegations.
In 2016, Romney spoke at the University of Utah calling Trump “a con artist” and “a phony, a fraud,” saying that “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”
“He’s playing the American public for suckers,” Romney said. “He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.”
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney makes a speech about the state of the 2016 presidential race and Donald Trump at the Hinckley Insitute of Politics at the University of Utah Thursday March 3.
That year, Utah voters rallied behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the Utah GOP primary — sending $553,089 to Cruz’s primary campaign. Sen. Mike Lee staged a last-ditch effort at the Republican National Convention that year to try preventingTrump from receiving the nomination and instead giving it to his friend Cruz.
After an “Access Hollywood” video surfaced, in which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women, Lee said that Trump is an embarrassment and should drop out of the race. Lee has since become one of Trump’s leading cheerleaders and defenders and is campaigning for the former president.
In 2016, Trump received 45.5% of Utahns’ votes in a race that included independent candidate Evan McMullin — the worst showing by a Republican since 1992, when George H.W. Bush got 43% in a race that included Ross Perot.
Four years later, 58% of Utah voters backed Trump, the worst showing by a Republican without a serious third-party contender since Barry Goldwater lost to Johnson in 1960.
Like Lee, Gov. Spencer Cox also had a change of heart with regards to Trump.
Cox was a critic of Trump for years and refused to endorse the party’s nominee. That changed after an assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania in July. Cox has since attended a grave-side ceremony with Trump at Arlington National Ceremony and his campaign sent photos of Cox, Trump and the family of a fallen Utah Marine standing among the headstones.
The 2024 Utah figures track with the money game nationally, where Harris has raised more than $1 billion in donations since entering the race, the campaign reported this week.
Where candidates are raising money in Utah
According to the Federal Elections Commission, her campaign had raised more than $890 million through the end of September, compared to just $367 million raised by Trump.
Independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. raised $389,811 before he dropped his bid and endorsed Trump, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein has raised $10,231, according to the most recent filings submitted to the FEC on Sunday.
Harris’ campaign has used that financial edge to pour money into digital and television ads, as well as build a major get-out-the-vote campaign. Despite those efforts, she trails Trump by a narrow margin in most of the key battleground polls.
On Friday, Gwen Walz, the wife of Harris’ vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was in Park City for a fundraiser that flew mostly under the radar.
Park City — where Harris appeared at a fundraiser a day after the Biden-Trump debate in June and before Biden withdrew from the race — is one of Harris’ biggest sources of Utah donations.
In fact, five Utah ZIP codes — the Federal Heights, Emigration Canyon and east central neighborhoods in Salt Lake City, along with the area around Park City and Kimball Junction in Summit County — accounted for a third of the money her campaign raised in the state.
Trump’s financial support was more dispersed with Park City, St. George, Heber City, Draper and Cottonwood Heights contributing the most.
Trump has received more small-dollar donations from Utahns since Harris entered the race. Trump has had 21,234 individual contributions averaging $51 each, compared to Harris’ campaign, which received 18,829 donations averaging $125.
Republicans crushing Dems in congressional races
In other filings by federal office-seekers, Republican John Curtis raised $5.3 million and spent $4.7 million through the end of September on his U.S. Senate campaign. Democrat Caroline Gleich raised $1.1 million and spent just under $1 million in the race.
First Congressional District Rep. Blake Moore brought in $2.4 million and spent $1.4 million while his Democratic opponent Bill Campbell raised $124,000 and spent just over $106,000.
In Utah’s 2nd District, Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy has raised $1.8 million and spent $1.65 million — most of which was spent to hold off a challenge by Colby Jenkins in the Republican primary. Democrat Nathaniel Woodward has not reported raising any money.
In a race for Curtis’ 3rd District seat, state Sen. Michael Kennedy’s campaign generated $871,130 and spent $663,204. Again, most of that money was expended during Kennedy’s Republican primary bid. His Democrat opponent Glenn Wright has received $63,681 in contributions and spent $57,226.
And incumbent Republican Rep. Burgess Owens has racked up $1.35 million, spending $1.33 million of it in his 4th District reelection campaign despite facing a Democratic opponent in Katrina Fallick-Wang who has raised just $8,060 and spent $5,876.
