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Sen. Mike Lee would have quite the fight on his hands if he were to face off against former Rep. Jim Matheson in 2016. The latest UtahPolicy.com shows 48% of Utahns would support Lee while 42% would back Matheson. 10% are undecided. Matheson's electoral calculus has always been the same in heavily Republican Utah. Win a majority of Democrats, pick off some Republicans and get a majority of the independent vote. The survey shows Matheson would win 87% of Democrats, 20% of Republicans and 57% of independents. He would likely need to increase the numbers among Republican and independent voters...

Big news for two reasons. One: Republican Frank Wolf, who represents increasingly blue northern Virginia, announced earlier today that he was retiring after 34 years. That’s a golden opportunity for Democrats to turn the House slightly bluer — or was, before Matheson’s retirement canceled it out. Two: If Love wins the seat, she’d be the first black woman elected to Congress as a Republican. The GOP naturally wants to make that happen to help rebrand itself as a more racially diverse party, which is one reason why she got a speaking slot at the convention last year. Grassroots righties I...

Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran will retire after 23 years in the House, according to multiple Democratic sources. The retirement is the third for Democrats this week: on Monday, Rep. George Miller (Calif.) said he would leave Congress after 40 years and Rep. Bill Owens (N.Y.) announced Tuesday he would forgo re-election in 2014. Moran’s northern Virginia seat is heavily Democratic, and is unlikely to be competitive in November: President Barack Obama won 68 percent of the vote in both 2012 and 2008, and Moran coasted with 65 percent of the vote in 2012. The Democratic primary is expected to...

what is viewed as a rush to the exits in the face of the Obamacare disaster and the Obama scandal machine bleeding into the 2014 mid-term elections, three prominent democrats in the U.S. Congress have announced their retirement this week. On Monday, 40-year Capitol Hill veteran and Pelosi Democrat, George Miller (D-CA) called it quits. Miller, 68, has been in the House since 1974, the year of Watergate. Miller stated that he looked “forward to one last year in Congress, fighting the good fight and then working in new venues on the issues that have inspired me.” Miller also indicated...

North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre and New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy will not seek reelection this year, according to multiple Democratic sources familiar with their plans – marking a blow to Democratic efforts to win control of the House. The 57-year-old McIntyre, who was elected in 1996 to the Wilmington-area congressional seat, narrowly defeated Republican state Sen. David Rouzer in 2012 and was poised to face him in a 2014 rematch. His retirement from the heavily Republican district will further thin the ranks of Blue Dog Democrats. It comes less than a month after another Blue Dog, Utah Rep. Jim...

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, Utah’s only Democrat in Congress, announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election, easing the way for Republicans to pick up another House seat in a solidly red state. Matheson was expected to face a tough repeat challenge in 2014 from Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love, a Republican he narrowly defeated in 2012. While Utah Democrats admitted Matheson’s decision not to run for an eighth term is a blow, they’re hoping it will set him up to challenge U.S. Sen. Mike Lee or Gov. Gary Herbert, both Republicans who are up for re-election in 2016. …

In a move that makes a government shutdown very likely, House Republicans approved a spending plan early Sunday morning that would delay Obamacare for a year and repeal its tax on medical devices. The temporary budget resolution now goes back to the Senate, where Democrats have consistently said any changes to President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law is a deal-killer. ... The decision to vote on the House amendments overnight emerged from a rare weekend GOP caucus meeting called by House Speaker John Boehner. The votes, taken after midnight, were 231-192 for the Obamacare delay, and 248-174 for the medical...

Two Democratic members of the House voted with Republicans Friday to defund Obamacare and fund the government until the end of the year: Utah Rep. Jim Matheson and North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre. Matheson is the sole Democratic member of the Utah delegation, a state that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won with almost 73 percent of the vote. Matheson, on the other hand, eked out a win in 2012, beating former Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love in 2012 by fewer than 3,000 votes. Love has said she will challenge Matheson again in 2014. McIntyre’s race was even tighter: he...

That's what some defeated House candidates from 2012 are hoping, at least. Several failed candidates who ran strong campaigns, but fell just short last year, are back for a rematch this election cycle. Whether they can use lessons learned in their losing campaign to change next year's results will go a long way in determining which party gains seats in the House.

SALT LAKE CITY — Capitalizing on her speech at the Republican National Convention and Utah campaign events featuring GOP stars, Mia Love raised more than twice as much money in the past quarter as Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson. ... Two Democratic organizations — House Majority PAC and Center Forward PAC — released a poll Monday showing Matheson with a 48 percent to 41 percent lead among likely 4th District voters. Love's poll by Public Opinion Strategies early last month had her up 51-36. Both Matheson and Love have discounted each other's numbers. A Deseret News/KSL survey in late September gave...

Mia Love Surges Ahead of Jim Matheson in Recent Poll Ramped up attack ads from Matheson signal desperation Saratoga Springs – A recent poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies indicates Mia Love has surged to a commanding 51-36% lead over Matheson. Mia’s message of reforming Washington is gaining widespread support from Utah voters, while Jim Matheson's support for Obama's policies have diminished his support for re-election. With Mia Love surging among voters, Jim Matheson and his allies have resorted to false and personal attacks. Matheson and his Washington allies have begun a deeply negative campaign, attacking Mia Love, her family...

Can Any of These House Underdogs Survive? Stuart Rothenberg June 8, 2012 · 1:48 PM EDT Remember their names: Reps. Charles Bass (R-N.H.), John Barrow (D-Ga.), Bobby Schilling (R-Ill.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Robert Dold (R-Ill.). If any of these five House incumbents survive, it will surprise most dispassionate observers (including some in their own parties). But upsets happen, and each of these candidates has a scenario for victory. Moments after Bass was declared the winner in November 2010, most political insiders figured he would be doomed in 2012. But considering his past electoral success, reports of his political demise...

Amid the crowded field of House candidates across the country in 2012, expect to hear a lot about Mia Love, a Republican who is an African American and a Mormon and who on Saturday defeated a handful of rivals to clinch the party nomination in the campaign for Utah's fourth congressional district. Love is preparing to face incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson. Victory in November would make her the first black Republican congresswoman in history. A Brooklyn-born Mormon convert, Love is a marathon-running mother of three and the daughter of Haitian immigrants who came to the United States with $10...

Black Mormon Conservative Mia Love won the GOP’s 4th Congressional District nomination Mia Love pulled a major upset, winning the Republican Party nomination in Utah’s 4th Congressional District, advancing to face U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson in November. Love won 70.4 percent of the vote from the delegates while former state lawmaker Carl Wimmer captured 29.6 percent. From Love4Utah website: In November 2011, Mia Love filed to run for Utah’s newly formed 4th Congressional District based on her demonstrated leadership on conservative principles. She credits her parents with providing the foundation for her ideals. After many years of living in the...

If elected in November, Love would be the first black Republican woman in Congress and Utah's first black representative. She said she would join the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C., should she win. "Yes, yes. I would join the Congressional Black Caucus and try to take that thing apart from the inside out," she said.

Senator-elect Mike Lee has tapped one of Utah’s most prominent lobbyists to lead his Washington staff and coordinate his transition from candidate to senator. Spencer Stokes doesn’t officially become a Senate staffer until Jan. 5, but he plans to bounce between Utah and Washington in the coming weeks as he tries to hire staff, set up the Senate office and ramp down his lobbying activities. “It will be an exciting time to be back in D.C.,” said Stokes, who believes American voters used November’s election to protest government overreach. He said Republicans are now positioned to make an impact on...

Matheson’s the guy whose brother was nominated to the federal bench on the very day he met with The One about health care. He was a no before … and he’s a no now. Space was yes before, but suddenly he’s a no too — and a hard no judging by his statement, i.e. not one liable to flip back tomorrow. All of which is perfectly dull and predictable if you assume that Pelosi has already made it to 216 and beyond and is simply looking to cut loose a few red-district Democrats to vote no at the eleventh hour....

Obama Now Selling Judgeships for Health Care Votes? Obama names brother of undecided House Dem to Appeals Court. John McCormack March 3, 2010 Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he's obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson's brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. “Scott Matheson is...

Here's two stories that, at first glance seem unrelated: Scott Matheson named to 10th Circuit appellate court Washington » President Barack Obama on Wednesday named Utahn Scott Matheson Jr. to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, elevating the former law school dean and son of a two-term governor to the appeals court covering Utah and five other states. Obama to give Dems earful on health care;President Obama has invited Democratic congressional members to the White House for a closed reception Wednesday evening that just happens to include 10 House members who voted "no" on the health care...

WHY DOES UTAH, THE REDDEST OF THE RED STATES, CONTINUE SENDING JIM MATHESON TO CONGRESS? ESPECIALLY IN THIS VERY DEMOCRATIC YEAR? SURPRISE! WHEN HE GETS THERE, HE VOTES LIKE A DEM!!! CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WEB AD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRTQ4Tv6mtg