Alliance for a Better Utah

The alliance is an affiliate of ProgressNow, a nationwide advocacy organization that partners with state and local groups to promote left-of-center causes through targeted email, social media, and other channels. In turn, ProgressNow receives funding through the Democracy Alliance, a leading collective of wealthy left-of-center donors. ¹

Background

The Alliance for a Better Utah is based in Salt Lake City and was launched in September 2010. Since then, the alliance has claimed to have played a key role in exposing corruption among mainly right-of-center politicians and promoting left-of-center policies. In particular, the ABU touts its role in exposing alleged campaign finance law violations by former Utah Attorney General John Swallow (R). The alliance claims that its pressure campaign led to the lieutenant governor’s office launching an investigation. ²

AG Swallow maintained his innocence throughout multiple investigations, but stepped down in 2013, claiming that there was “no way to convince people” that he was innocent. ³ AG Swallow was acquitted of all charges in 2017, and in 2019, the Utah state legislature voted nearly unanimously to award him approximately $1.5 million in compensation for the attorneys’ fees he incurred throughout the investigation. ⁴ ABU maintains its claim that “Swallow broke the law.” ²

Activism

In January 2011, the Alliance for a Better Utah partnered with Cuentame, a Hispanic-focused migrant advocacy group, to put up billboards and stage a protest opposing a proposed Utah measure that would have allowed police officers to verify immigration status when arresting a suspect. The measure passed in May of that year, but a federal judge blocked its implementation less than a day after it took effect. Utah Assistant Attorney General Jerrold Jensen announced that the state would appeal the decision and said it was “not a surprise” that the federal government had blocked the law, which he called “fully constitutional.” ^{5 6}

From January to March 2013, the ABU repeatedly targeted then-Utah Attorney General John Swallow (R) for his alleged campaign finance law violations, filing complaints with the Utah Bar Association and the state lieutenant governor’s office. In May of that year, the lieutenant governor called for a special investigation. ² Swallow resigned later that year, but was cleared of all charges in 2017. ⁴

Women’s March

Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2017, ABU co-sponsored the Utah Women’s March event. The Women’s March was a series of protests across the United States that was organized by Linda Sarsour, a far-left Islamist activist, and Tamika Mallory, an associate of the Black nationalist Nation of Islam and its anti-white and antisemitic leader Louis Farrakhan. ²

The ABU maintained a website attacking U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). As of 2021, the organization was calling for Utah voters to remove him from office in the 2022 midterm elections. ⁷

Stratos Project Data Center

In June 2026, the ABU and five residents of Box Elder County, Utah, filed a lawsuit against the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA, a Utah state agency), Utah state Senators Stuart Adams (R-Layton) and Jerry Stevenson (R-Layton), and the Box Elder County Commission, claiming that the civil rights of the county residents were violated when the county government approved the construction of a data center without permitting a public vote or public testimony. The Stratos data center project was backed by investor Kevin O’Leary, and its designers planned it would cover about 40,000 acres. ⁸

The ABU’s lawsuit claims that the data center plan was improperly vetted by the MIDA, allegedly lacking sufficient consent from county landowners and environmental analysis. The lawsuit also challenges the legality of the existence of MIDA, which was established to facilitate military and economic development projects in Utah. State Senators Adams and Stevenson were named in the lawsuit for serving as MIDA board members and approving the Stratos project, which the lawsuit alleged violated Utah laws regarding the separation of legislative and executive powers. Additionally, the lawsuit targeted Senator Adams for alleged conflicts of interest when his PAC received $135,000 from business interests connected to Stratos shortly before Senator Adams approved the project. ⁸

Soon after the announcement of the lawsuit, O’Leary appeared on Fox News and claimed without providing evidence that the ABU was funded by nonprofits connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Arabella Advisors, a left-leaning philanthropic consulting company that provides support to a wide range of left-of-center nonprofit advocacy groups. O’Leary claimed it was an “irrefutable fact” that the Chinese government was secretly running a smear campaign against his data center project and similar projects across the United States. ^{9 10}

After the interview, Fox News issued an apology to its audience for O’Leary’s remarks, noting that there was “no evidence” that the Chinese government was funding the ABU or its lawsuit. Soon after, O’Leary acknowledged in a Facebook post that he had no evidence to support his claims. ^{9 10}

Campaign Finance Complaint Against Senator Adams

In December 2024, the AUB filed a complaint against Utah Senator Stuart Adams for allegedly committing numerous campaign finance law violations. The complaint alleged that Senator Adams had obscured the recipient or recipients of 232 campaign expenditures by the Senator’s PAC totaling $428,000 over 14 years. Senator Adams responded that the accusations were based on a “blatant falsehood.” ¹¹

Campaign Finance Complaint Against ALEC

In 2021, AUB and the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed a complaint against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-of-center think tank that also functions as a voluntary membership association for state legislators, for allegedly violating campaign finance laws after it did not report its donation of campaign software to Utah Senators Stuart Adams and Lincoln Fillmore (R-South Jordan). The AUB and CMD argued that the software constituted an in-kind donation that should have been publicly disclosed like any monetary political donation. ¹²

Progress Report

The Alliance for a Better Utah publishes an annual Progress Report that grades every Utah State Senator and Representative on the categories of “strong communities,” “equal rights,” “good government,” and “sustainable future.” The reports overwhelmingly grade Democratic legislators higher than Republican legislators. ^{13 14}

Better Utah Institute

The Better Utah Institute (BUI) is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit education sister group of the Alliance for a Better Utah. The BUI was founded in 2011 as the “ABU Education Fund” before changing its name. The BUI tracks Utah legislation, U.S. Congressional redistricting efforts, provides information to voters about their elected officials, and holds events to raise awareness of policy issues. ^{15 16}

Leadership

The Alliance for a Better Utah was founded in 2011 by Democratic activist and donor Josh Kanter. ¹⁷ Kanter is a prolific donor to the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates, and has twice been a featured speaker at Democracy Alliance conferences, the yearly convenings of the Democracy Alliance, a secretive coordination network established by left-leaning donors and Democratic Party leaders. ^{18 19 20} As of July 2026, Kanter was the chairman of the ABU’s board, and was running his own wealth-advisory firm. ²¹

From March 2025 to April 2026, the Taylor Knuth was the executive director of the AUB. He previously worked as a deputy director of the Salt Lake City Arts Council. ²²

Chase Thomas was the executive director of the ABU from 2018 to 2024. As of July 2026, Thomas continued to work as a senior policy advisor at the ABU. He previously interned at the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah. He attended the Brigham Young University Law School, and first worked with the ABU while on a fellowship sponsored by the university. Thomas is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and cites his time as a missionary in Texas as the inspiration for his migrant advocacy. ^{23 24}

Katie Matheson was the communications director of the ABU from 2021 to 2022 and previously worked at the group as a communications director from 2017 to 2022. As of July 2026, Matheson was a communications and marketing manager at the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development. She is also the co-founder of the CD4 Coalition, a left-of-center activist organization that claims to pursue accountability in politics. Matheson attended Westminster College in Princeton, New Jersey. ^{23   25}

Financials

In 2015, the Alliance for a Better Utah received just over $200,000 in contributions and grants. In 2016, the organization’s revenue dropped to less than $85,000, then grew steadily over the next few years, exceeding $260,000 in 2019. ²⁶

ProgressNow gave the ABU a $20,000 grant in 2012 and a $15,000 grant in 2013. ^{27 28}