Democrat Jenny Wilson continues to narrow the fund-raising gap on Keith Christensen in the race for Salt Lake City mayor with just 12 days remaining until the primary election.

Wilson, a Salt Lake County councilwoman, raised $83,499 in August — the most of any mayoral candidate — to bring her total campaign contributions to nearly $430,000, according to finance reports filed with the city recorder's office Thursday.

"We've met our internal fund-raising goals," Wilson said, "but we still have some aggressive work to do in the next several weeks."

Christensen, a former Salt Lake City councilman and outgoing Mayor Rocky Anderson's choice as his successor, has received $49,480 since Aug. 2, boosting his total contributions to $604,476. August was also a big spending month for Christensen, an independent candidate who listed $221,519 worth of expenditures, of which about $181,300 went to advertising.

Utah House minority leader Ralph Becker, a Democrat, took in another $55,022 in August to move ahead of Salt Lake City Councilman Dave Buhler in total contributions by a slim $1,300 margin.

"We are right on track with what our fund-raising targets are," said Becker, who has received $321,740 in total contributions. "We're doing everything in the campaign that we set out to do, and we're feeling great about the response we're getting."

Buhler picked up another $45,909 in August to push his campaign total to $320,447. His spending also has picked up, with expenditures totaling nearly as much in August ($81,859) as in June and July combined ($89,206).

"The campaign is right on track," said Buhler, a Republican, "but we're not easing up any. We've got a lot of work to do the next 10 days or so, but I'm feeling very positive about the primary a week from Tuesday."

J.P. Hughes' campaign gained nearly $21,000 in August, bringing the total to $71,885. Quinn McDonough, meanwhile, spent $876 of his own money during the month — his first expenditure of his campaign aside from the $315 filing fee.

Wilson has the most money to spend as the primary approaches, with a remaining balance of $120,865 — about $32,000 more than Becker and Christensen and roughly $62,000 more than Buhler.

In a Dan Jones & Associates poll conducted in July for the Deseret Morning News, Wilson was the frontrunner to replace Anderson with 23 percent of respondents saying they'd vote for her. Buhler was second with 19 percent, followed by Becker and Christensen, both with 13 percent.

Attempts to reach Christensen for comment Thursday evening were unsuccessful.

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E-mail: jpage@desnews.com