WE DID IT!!!
A year and a half ago, the Utah Women and Politics group was just getting started with a couple dozen women sharing ideas for how we could make an impact. By last fall, we had created the Utah Women and Politics PAC - focused on moving the needle in the Utah State Legislature by supporting moderate/progressive and diverse candidates who will impact the laws and discussions here in Utah. We raised $125,000 (making us the largest Utah PAC!) and used nearly all the funds to support 12 excellent candidates.
Our goal was to move the needle in a minimum of three state legislature races and WE EXCEEDED OUR GOAL with FIVE new elected Democrats in the Utah House/Senate as well as one retained Democratic seat and one retained moderate Republican! These wins raise the House Democrat numbers from 12 to 16 (from 16% to 21%), raise the Senate Democrat numbers to 9 (from 17% to 31%), and moves the needle significantly!!
Winning candidates who we supported include:
Kathleen Riebe, Senate District 8 (Murray, Cottonwood Heights, Big & Little Cottonwood Canyons)
*Deana Froerer, House District 8 (Huntsville, Eastern Weber County)
We are waiting for final results in this district. Deana is currently leading by just 25 votes, at 93% of the votes in so keep your fingers crossed for a victory here!
Lou Shurtliff, House District 10 (South Ogden and Weber County, Morgan County)
Ray Ward, House District 19 (Bountiful)
Suzanne Harrison, House District 32 (Sandy, Draper, White City)
Patrice Arent, House District 36 (Millcreek, Salt Lake)
Andrew Stoddard, House District 44 (Murray and Midvale, along I-15 S)
Congratulations to the candidates for amazing campaigns. We are so excited to have you as part of the Utah State Legislature!
We also want to thank those candidates who put in a huge amount of time and effort but were not successful THIS time. 2020 is not that far away and these candidates are still excellent choices and now much stronger experience and name recognition for future races.
And thank you so much to our amazing PAC members for your generous support in money and time to help get these candidates elected.
Congratulations. We are just beginning. We are planning a victory celebration soon and will follow up with details. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!