KUTV - Another "Toss Up" Projection for Mia Love-Doug Owens Congressional Race

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By Daniel Woodruff

Another group of political analysts have pegged Utah's fourth congressional district race as a "toss up."

The Cook Political Report on Friday released its latest projections for House races across the country. In that report, the organization said the race between Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) and her Democratic challenger Doug Owens is now considered a "Republican toss up." It had previously been rated as leaning Republican.

"I think it's great," said Owens. "I'm excited by the widespread support my campaign's receiving."

This follows Thursday's news that the University of Virginia Center for Politics also characterized the Love-Owens matchup as a competitive one that could go either way. That group cited Owens' competitive fundraising and the negative effect of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in Utah as reasons for a close race.

Owens lost to Love in 2014, but a recent Salt Lake Tribune poll showed Owens ahead of Love by six points.

Love did not make herself available for an interview with 2News Friday. But her campaign manager, Dave Hansen, called the poll "flawed" and said the race is not as close as people think.

"This race is going to be based on the job that Mia is doing, and she is doing a very good job as a member of Congress," Hansen said.

He also blamed the media for hyping things up.

"We don't have many competitive races in the state of Utah and they're looking at this and saying, this may be one that we can hype that maybe will be competitive," Hansen said.

There is no primary election in either party in this congressional district. Voters will cast their ballots in this race in November.

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