GOP heavy hitters help Love match Matheson in quarterly fundraising

SALT LAKE CITY — Republican Mia Love nearly matched Rep. Jim Matheson in raising money the past three months, thanks largely to GOP heavy hitters in Congress.

The Saratoga Springs mayor took in $355,000 during the April-to-June Federal Election Commission reporting period.

Donations from several dozen House members, including $14,000 from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and his Freedom Project political action committee, provided Love with nearly half that total. Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and John McCain, R-Ariz., were also among the congressional contributors.

Local real estate developers, including The Boyer Company, former EnergySolutions CEO Steve Creamer, former Miss America Sharlene Wells Hawkes and Mitt Romney's son Josh Romney also donated to the Love campaign.

Since getting into the race, Love has raised $475,000. She ended the quarter with $277,000 on hand, according to her FEC report.

Matheson raised $361,000 during the same three-month period, much of it from corporate PACs including General Electric, McDonald's, Microsoft and Facebook. Several of his Democratic House colleagues also donated to his campaign, as did Salt Lake County Councilman Randy Horiuchi and state Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake.

At $1.28 million, the six-term Democratic congressman currently has about four times as much on hand as his 4th Congressional District opponent.

• In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch raised $635,000 from April to June, a period that included a primary runoff with former state senator Dan Liljenquist.

Since his re-election in 2007, Hatch has raised more than $10 million, about 40 percent of which came from PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The six-term senator has spent more than $8 million in the past two years while campaigning in earnest for a seventh term.

Currently, the senator has $2.3 million at his disposal.

Meantime, Democratic Senate challenger Scott Howell raised $94,735, mostly from individual donations, according to his quarterly report. Howell accepted two PAC contributions — $5,000 from the NEA Fund for Children and Education, and $2,500 from the International Union of Operating Engineers.

• In the 1st Congressional District, GOP Rep. Rob Bishop raised $41,533 in the quarter and has $80,598 on hand. His challenger Democrat Donna McAleer, who won a primary runoff in June, collected $66,540 from March through June but currently has only $6,161 in cash.

• In the 2nd District, Republican Chris Stewart has a sizable money advantage over Democrat Jay Seegmiller.

Stewart pulled in $95,239 this quarter and has $114,752 on hand. Seegmiller raised $42,500 and has $20,669 in the bank.

There is no incumbent running in the 2nd District.

• In the 3rd District, Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz took in $51,087 and has $132,318. His Democratic opponent, Salt Lake City Council Chairman Søren Simonsen, said he had not yet reached the financial threshold requiring an FEC report and is just getting his campaign committee registered.

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