Sahara Hayes

From Ballotpedia
Sahara Hayes
Candidate, Utah House of Representatives District 32
Utah House of Representatives District 32
Tenure
2023 - Present
Term ends
2027
Years in position
3
Predecessor:Suzanne Harrison (D)
Compensation
Base salary
$301/legislative day
Per diem
Per diem is reimbursed to state legislators when they submit receipts or turn in expense reports.
Elections and appointments
Last election
November 5, 2024
Next convention
April 11, 2026
Education
Bachelor's
Westminster College, 2014
Graduate
University of Utah, 2018
Personal
Birthplace
Salt Lake City, UT
Profession
Grant writer
Contact

Sahara Hayes (Democratic Party) is a member of theUtah House of Representatives, representingDistrict 32. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Hayes (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to theUtah House of Representatives to representDistrict 32. She declared candidacy for the Democratic convention scheduled onApril 11, 2026.[source]

Biography

Sahara Hayes was born inSalt Lake City, Utah. She earned a bachelor's degree from Westminster College in 2014 and a graduate degree from the University of Utah in 2018.[1] Her career experience includes working as a grant writer.[2]

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Committee assignments

2023-2024

Hayes was assigned to the following committees:


Elections

2026

See also: Utah House of Representatives elections, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on June 23, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32

IncumbentSahara Hayes (D) is running in the Democratic primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on June 23, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Sahara Hayes
Sahara Hayes

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Incumbents arebolded and underlined.

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Democratic convention

Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

IncumbentSahara Hayes (D) is running in the Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on April 11, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Sahara Hayes
Sahara Hayes

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Incumbents arebolded and underlined.

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Republican convention

Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

Aileen Hampton (R) is running in the Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on April 18, 2026.

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There are noincumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2024

See also: Utah House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Utah House of Representatives District 32

IncumbentSahara Hayes defeatedSarah Montes in the general election for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Sahara Hayes
Sahara Hayes (D)
 
72.7
 
12,158
Image of Sarah Montes
Sarah Montes (R) Candidate Connection
 
27.3
 
4,576

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 16,734
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. IncumbentSahara Hayes advanced from the Democratic primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled.Sarah Montes advanced from the Republican primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

United Utah Party primary election

The United Utah Party primary election was canceled.Adam Bean advanced from the United Utah Party primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32.

Democratic convention

Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

IncumbentSahara Hayes advanced from the Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on March 30, 2024.

Candidate
✔
Image of Sahara Hayes
Sahara Hayes (D)

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican convention

Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

Sarah Montes advanced from the Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on April 13, 2024.

Candidate
✔
Image of Sarah Montes
Sarah Montes (R) Candidate Connection

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

United Utah Party convention

United Utah Party convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

Adam Bean advanced from the United Utah Party convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on March 23, 2024.

Candidate
✔Adam Bean (United Utah Party)

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hayes in this election.

Pledges

Hayes signed the following pledges.

  • U.S. Term Limits

2022

See also: Utah House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Utah House of Representatives District 32

Sahara Hayes defeatedBrittany Karzen andAdam Bean in the general election for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Sahara Hayes
Sahara Hayes (D) Candidate Connection
 
72.7
 
9,363
Image of Brittany Karzen
Brittany Karzen (R) Candidate Connection
 
24.5
 
3,160
Adam Bean (United Utah Party)
 
2.7
 
353

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 12,876
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled.Sahara Hayes advanced from the Democratic primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled.Brittany Karzen advanced from the Republican primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32.

United Utah Party primary election

The United Utah Party primary election was canceled.Adam Bean advanced from the United Utah Party primary for Utah House of Representatives District 32.

Democratic convention

Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

Sahara Hayes defeatedEric Biggart in the Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on April 9, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Sahara Hayes
Sahara Hayes (D) Candidate Connection
 
55.4
 
31
Eric Biggart (D)
 
44.6
 
25

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 56
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican convention

Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

Brittany Karzen advanced from the Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on April 9, 2022.

Candidate
✔
Image of Brittany Karzen
Brittany Karzen (R) Candidate Connection

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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United Utah Party convention

United Utah Party convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32

Adam Bean advanced from the United Utah Party convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on April 14, 2022.

Candidate
✔Adam Bean (United Utah Party)

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Sahara Hayes has not yet completedBallotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.If you are Sahara Hayes,click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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2024

Sahara Hayes did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Candidate Connection

Sahara Hayes completedBallotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hayes' responses.

Expand all |Collapse all

Sahara Hayes is a lifelong Utah resident, and has lived in District 32 for over 20 years. As a member of the Millcreek Community Council, she is aware of the interests and issues that impact the daily lives of residents. Through her work on the Council she has gotten to know residents, and the concerns and challenges they face.

After graduating from Westminster College, Sahara earned her Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Utah. She currently serves the public as a grant specialist for West Valley City’s Division of Arts and Culture, where she advocates for free and accessible arts programming for residents. This, combined with prior work in the non-profit sector, has led to a deep appreciation of the needs of different communities and the opportunities for government to fulfill them.

Sahara currently serves on the board of directors for the Utah Cultural Celebration Center Foundation, and is the Events Subcommittee Chair for the Millcreek Community Council. She is an avid reader, hiker, and knitter, and in non-pandemic times might be found performing at local festivals on a trapeze. She lives in Millcreek with her partner, Lily, and a small pack of beloved pets.
I am most concerned with:

Environmental protections
Increasing per-pupil funding and supporting teachers
Reproductive freedom

Supporting and protecting queer and transgender youth

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Ballotpedia LogoNote: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Sahara Hayes campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024Utah House of Representatives District 32Won general$25,952 $-13,691
2022Utah House of Representatives District 32Won general$33,167 $-19,263
Grand total$59,119 $-32,954
Sources:OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Utah

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Utah scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.


2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].   

In 2024, theUtah State Legislature was in session from January 16 to March 1.

Legislators are scored on their stances on conservative fiscal policy.
Legislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
Legislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to arts and the humanities.
Legislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to education.
Legislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.


2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].   

In 2023, theUtah State Legislature was in session from January 17 to March 3.

Legislators are scored on their stances on conservative fiscal policy.
Legislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
Legislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to arts and the humanities.
Legislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to education.
Legislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.









See also


External links

Officeholder

Utah House of Representatives District 32

  • Website

    • Personal

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

    • Footnotes

    1. ↑Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 29, 2022
    2. ↑Utah House of Representatives, "Sahara Hayes," accessed March 7, 2023

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Suzanne Harrison (D)    		Utah House of Representatives District 32
    2023-Present    		Succeeded by
    -


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