Democrats, Big Tech Flood Utah with Millions to Unseat Mike Lee

Democrats and Silicon Valley leaders are flooding Utah with millions of dollars to boost Never Trumper Evan McMullin’s bid to unseat Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).

The most active outside group in the Utah Senate race, according to the Associated Press, is the pro-McMullin super Pac, Put Utah First, which has spent $5.1 million in 2022, including $3 million from October 1 to 19.

Put Utah First’s primary donor is Blake Muray, the former CEO of the financial services technology Divvy. Murray is just one of the Utah technology leaders backing McMullin. Put Utah First has also received $250,000 from American Bridge’s political action committee (PAC), a leading Democrat PAC.

Republican Accountability PAC, which is also running ads against Senate Republican candidates Herschel Walker and J.D. Vance, donated $100,000 to Put Utah First.

In an ironic twist, Put Utah First has attacked Lee for allegedly taking donations from special interest groups while not mentioning their own funding, which comes from Democrat PACs, tech executives, and others.

Kelsey Koenen Witt, McMullin’s campaign spokesperson, took the report to mean that McMullin has built a diverse coalition.

“We’re proud of the cross-partisan coalition we’ve built to unite Utahns and solve the mounting problems our state and our country face,” the spokesperson explained. “It is a lie from the Lee campaign and his allies that the Democratic Party is financially supporting Evan.”

In contrast to McMullin, conservative groups and other groups such as Americans for Prosperity, the Consumer Technology Associations, Liberty Champions PAC, and Crypto Freedom, a pro-Bitcoin PAC affiliated with the Club for Growth, have backed Lee’s reelection bid.

The Club for Growth has spent more than $8 million to block McMullin’s mission to oust Lee.

David McIntosh, the leader of Club for Growth Action, said, “We think it’s important that voters in Utah know it’s a clear choice between Mike Lee, a Republican and a conservative, and Evan McMullin.”

Lee has accused McMullin of feeding the “Democrat industrial complex.” McMullin uses the Democrat fundraising tool ActBlue, instead of the Republican alternative, WinRed. He has also paid Democrat operatives $1.6 million.