New ‘dark money’ group spent big on Phil Lyman’s Utah governor bid. Lyman says supporters are wary of Cox.
Lyman’s campaign raised more than $800,000 since January, more than five times the donations reported by Cox. Lyman’s gubernatorial bid is propped up financially by a massive loan from a former Texas Congressional candidate and BYU football player and hundreds of thousands of dollars from a newly-created company that may help hide donors to his campaign.
Lyman Family Farm has spent millions of dollars buying up Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration land at auction. Between 2014 and 2016, the company spent $6.4 million acquiring 5,214 acres of public land parcels,. These lands generate revenue for public education through energy development or auctioning parcels to the highest bidder. The governor appoints the
After detailing the web of links discovered through corporate filings, Lyman said Hunt’s wife is a distant relative and that Webb is a friend who “likes my campaign.” Gov. Spencer Cox speaking at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 18, 2024. Former Gov. Mike Leavitt is at right.The Republican incumbent is sitting on a mountain of campaign cash heading into Saturday’s Republican State Nominating Convention. Cox has raised just over $155,000 in 2024, with the largest contribution coming from a $25,000 donation from Nomi Health. The company donated $50,000 to Cox’s campaign in 2022.
Cox has spent heavily ramping up for his 2024 campaign. Last year, his team spent over $250,000 on advertising, while spending another $150,000 on ads ahead of this weekend’s convention. His campaign has also paid Election Hive, a political consulting firm headed, in part, by his cousin Jon Cox, more than $200,000 for campaign management and fundraising services.