Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
When it comes to campaign cash flowing to and from candidates for Salt Lake City Council this year, it’s a story of big dollars compared to shoestrings. Some of the numbers reported by candidates are already record-breaking for the city’s three contested municipal races, and those will climb higher as the Nov. 4 election draws closer. Incumbents are so far dominating this year’s campaign money games, with one key exception. Erika Carlsen in District 5 is way ahead on fundraising Community activist and newcomer to city politics Erika Carlsen — running for the soon-to-be open seat representing Ballpark-centered District 5 — boasts the season’s heftiest budget thus far, with $99,881 raised and $65,658 spent in the race as of early October. Her campaign cashflow already has dwarfed that of her two opponents, Ballpark Community Council chair and University of Utah researcher Amy Hawkins and Liberty Wells resident and security guard Vance Hansen, who have raised $5,400 and $5,576, respectively. Carlsen’s fundraising sum so far surpasses those of all council candidates in Salt Lake City going back to at least 2003, with the exception of Taymour Semnani’s unsuccessful bid against incumbent Dan Dugan for the east-bench District 6 council seat in 2023. Semnani reported $125,616 in contributions that year — though $85,438 of that came from his own personal loans to the campaign. [Read more: Salt Lake City Council District 5 voter guide.] More than half of the money Carlson took in as of her latest campaign finance report — $56,774 of that $99,881 total — has come from out-of-state donors, analysis by The Tribune shows Those donors, who make up 532 of the total of 756 campaign contributions she had received as of Oct. 7, mainly live in California but are giving from across the country, as Utah native Carlsen draws on a national network of supporters from her community organizing work with youth in other states. Her out-of-state donations have so far averaged about $106 apiece, but 24 of them have come in closer the city’s permitted contribution limit of $850 — including $850 from Laney Whitcanack, a donor living in Lafayette, California, and $802 from Nivasse Ajagane of San Mateo. Carlsen, Hawkins and Hansen are vying for the council seat currently held by Darin Mano, who announced over a year ago he wouldn’t run again. Mano has thrown his support behind Carlsen. Mayor Erin Mendenhall has also endorsed Carlsen and maxed out her giving to Carlsen’s campaign with an $850 contribution. Incumbent Chris Wharton well ahead on dollars in Council District 3’s five-way race The next biggest campaign budget this council election belongs to incumbent Chris Wharton in District 3, who had pulled in $95,126 in donations and spent $64,056 as of Oct. 7 as he goes after a third term. The attorney, business owner and current City Council chair is reporting a total of 445 individual donations, compared to Carlsen’s 756 donations, in his District 3 bid. Wharton, by the way, has also received an endorsement from Mendenhall, as well as a late-February campaign contribution from her of $790. [Read more: Salt Lake City Council District 3 voter guide.] Wharton is in a five-way race as he seeks another term representing a district that spans the Avenues, Federal Heights, Capitol Hill and parts of the Guadalupe and Marmalade neighborhoods. His closest challengers on a cash basis — software executive Blake McClary and foundation board member and diabetes-care advocate Liddy Huntsman-Hernandez — have each raised less than half of what Wharton has, with totals of $27,052 and $25,763, respectively. Though their total cash raised is comparable, Huntsman-Hernandez’s cash has come from a smaller circle of 44 donors, while McClary’s donor base has been three times as wide, at 145 donors. McClary, who declared as a candidate early in the year, has spent $18,102 from his campaign coffers, compared to $13,492 doled out by Huntsman-Hernandez. The other two District 3 candidates — judicial assistant and business owner Jake Seastrand and health care worker David Berg — have received far smaller amounts from donors: $795 for Seastrand and $646 for Berg. Reports show Seastrand’s campaign has spent nearly $4,824 as of early October, leaving it with a $4,029 deficit. Incumbent Petro leads in fundraising in Council District 1 Incumbent Victoria Petro has raised $46,515 in her run for a second term representing the west side’s District 1, which spans Rose Park, Westpointe, Jordan Meadows, Northpointe and a portion of the Fairpark neighborhood. She had spent about half that — $23,395 — as of early October as she goes up against two challengers. [Read more: Salt Lake City Council District 1 voter guide.] As with the other races, her campaign bankroll far exceeds both the other District 1 candidates. Stephen Otterstrom, a human resources consultant, has raised $8,603 and spent about $6,396 of that. Yussif Adbi, a Muslim community leader and tech business owner, is reporting straight zeros so far for both donations and expenditures.
