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Navajo Candidate Drops Out of Race Against Hatch

James Singer said he couldn’t raise the kind of money it would take to unseat seven-term Republican

James Singer is the first Utah Navajo to run for the Senate. (James Courage Singer for Senate via Facebook)
James Singer is the first Utah Navajo to run for the Senate. (James Courage Singer for Senate via Facebook)

James Singer, the Democrat who launched a bid to unseat seven-term Sen. Orrin Hatch in April, has ended his campaign for Senate, citing fundraising as his campaign’s primary shortcoming.

While Singer said it would have been possible to continue his campaign as a “‘principled protest’ rather than a winning campaign,” since he wasn’t able to raise “the millions of dollars needed to challenge an established politician like Orrin Hatch,” he did not want to “waste the time, money, and energy of my friends and supporters in this matter.”

Singer threw his support to Salt Lake City Councilwoman Jenny Wilson in his Facebook post announcing his departure from the race, saying she was more experienced and would be able to get “important work done in a hostile political climate.”

“I hope we can quickly coalesce around her campaign and show much needed unity in the Democratic Party.”

Singer, 34, an adjunct professor at Westminster College and Salt Lake Community College, said a run for local office might be “better suited for me and my team.” 

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