Sahara Hayes
Sahara Hayes (Democratic Party) is a member of the Utah House of Representatives, representing District 32. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Hayes (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Utah House of Representatives to represent District 32. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Sahara Hayes was born in Salt 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 to BillTrack50 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
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Hayes was assigned to the following committees:
Elections
2024
See also: Utah House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Utah House of Representatives District 32
Incumbent Sahara Hayes defeated Sarah Montes in the general election for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sahara Hayes (D) | 72.7 | 12,158 |
 | Sarah Montes (R)  | 27.3 | 4,576 | |
| Total votes: 16,734 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Adam Bean (United Utah Party)
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Sahara 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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jerry Schmidt (R)
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
Incumbent Sahara Hayes advanced from the Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on March 30, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Sahara Hayes (D) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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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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 | ||
| ✔ | | Sarah Montes (R) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jerry Schmidt (R)
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) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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.
2022
See also: Utah House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Utah House of Representatives District 32
Sahara Hayes defeated Brittany Karzen and Adam Bean in the general election for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sahara Hayes (D) | 72.7 | 9,363 |
 | Brittany Karzen (R) | 24.5 | 3,160 | |
| Adam Bean (United Utah Party) | 2.7 | 353 | ||
| Total votes: 12,876 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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
- Katie Ward (D)
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 defeated Eric Biggart in the Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 32 on April 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sahara Hayes (D) | 55.4 | 31 |
| Eric Biggart (D) | 44.6 | 25 | ||
| Total votes: 56 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Katie Ward (D)
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 | ||
| ✔ | | Brittany Karzen (R) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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. | ||||
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) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sahara Hayes did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Sahara Hayes completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hayes' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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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.- Support teachers
- Prioritize the environment
- Protect queer and transgender youth
Environmental protections
Increasing per-pupil funding and supporting teachers
Reproductive freedom
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
Note: 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 the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard 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 to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 16 to March 1.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 17 to March 3.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Utah House of Representatives District 32 |
Officeholder Utah House of Representatives District 32 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 29, 2022
- ↑ 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 - |
