Freshman Rep. Ben McAdams’ (D-Utah) reelection campaign is one of the many closely contested House races in November. A group of four GOP challengers must first battle among themselves to slim down the crowded field of competitors while McAdams continues to outraise them by millions.

However, things are looking up for McAdams who is benefitting from an incumbency advantage, a steady wave of campaign cash and the limitations the coronavirus has put on challengers trying to get their name out to voters. The slew of GOP candidates vying to challenge McAdams are cash poor compared to the millions the Democrat has raised. 

Utah’s sole Democrat in Congress raised nearly $2.9 million through the beginning of April to defend his seat in the state’s 4th Congressional District. McAdams has spent nearly $724,000 and has over $2.2 million in the bank. The Cook Political Report changed its rating of the race in late March from a toss-up to leaning Democratic, citing difficulties in campaigning amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

“As the COVID-19 outbreak forces more states to delay spring primary and runoff dates, it’s had another, more subtle effect: it’s all but frozen the House recruitment process in place and curtailed fundraising, benefiting incumbents and candidates who had already built large war chests and disadvantaging recent entrants. On the whole, that boosts Democrats, the party on defense this cycle,” David Wasserman, political analyst for the Cook Political Report wrote. 

McAdams was the second lawmaker to test positive for COVID-19. He was hospitalized for more than a week and is now recovering at home. 

At Saturday’s virtual state Republican convention in Utah, GOP state lawmaker Kim Coleman received nearly 54 percent of the delegate vote to put her on the June 30 primary ballot. Former NFL player Burgess Owens, former Zions Bank vice president Trent Christensen and former KSL Newsradio host Jay McFarland also made their way onto the primary ballot by submitting 7,000 signatures each from Republican voters. The four Republicans make up a smaller field than the original seven vying to challenge McAdams.

Coleman and Owens are the top fundraisers among the pack of GOP challengers. Coleman raised over $396,000 while Owens raised nearly $344,000 through the end of March. Their campaigns were named as “On the Radar” for House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) Young Guns program that recognizes formidable GOP candidates in contentious House races.

Coleman is backed by the House Freedom Fund PAC, which spent over $42,000 to support her congressional bid. That PAC is operated by former Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who is now President Donald Trump’s chief of staff. She also secured high profile endorsements from the National Rifle Association, conservative dark money group Americans for Prosperity and Trump’s economic advisor Stephen Moore. 

The other Republicans who made it onto the ballot have raised much less. McFarland has raised just over $119,000, while Christensen has raised nearly $86,000. 

In an attempt to regain the House majority, the National Republican Congressional Committee marked McAdams as one of the party’s top targets in 2020. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included McAdams in its Frontline initiative to garner extra protection for vulnerable House Democrats who will face a tough reelection battle in November. In 2018, McAdams ousted two-term incumbent Rep. Mia Love by fewer than 700 votes. McAdams spent over $3.2 million to unseat Love in 2018. She outraised him by over $2.3 million and outside groups largely favored Love and spent an additional $1.9 million supporting her and bashing McAdams. In 2016, Trump carried the district by nearly 7 percentage points.

An April Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll found that one-third of the district’s likely voters say they’d vote for a McAdams reelection, while another third would vote for someone new.

The highly contested race is a costly one. It’s the most expensive congressional race in the state this cycle. More than $4.2 million has been raised so far. McAdams’ sole Democratic challenger Daniel Beckstrand didn’t make it onto the primary ballot after the state Democratic Party’s virtual convention. Beckstrand raised just over $6,000. 

With the primary still two months away, outside groups have not yet dived deeply into the race. They have only spent close to $52,000. However, in the midterms, outside groups spent more than $2.9 million to influence the general election. 

The post GOP challengers outraised in race to unseat sole Utah Democrat in Congress appeared first on OpenSecrets News.