Jenny Wilson (politician)

Wilson's background is as a leadership, public relations and media consultant. She has held positions in administration, fundraising and project management for the Sundance Institute and Film Festival, the Sundance Group, the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games of 2002, Voices for Utah Children, and the University of Utah’s John A. Moran Eye Center.

In 1991, she served at the federal level as assistant press secretary to U.S. Rep. Les AuCoin (D-OR) and from 1992–1996 as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Bill Orton (D-UT). She assisted the Democratic Caucus of the Utah State Legislature in 1998.[5]

Wilson served two non-consecutive terms on the Salt Lake County Council, once from 2005 to 2011, and again from 2014 to 2019. On the Council, Wilson supported policy initiatives for ethics reform and open space preservation, and an initiative that provides health benefits to the partners of LGBT county employees.[6] She served as a member of the Salt Lake County Council of Governments and as a board member of the Unified Fire Authority. She also co-founded the Jordan River Commission.[7]

Wilson's board and committee assignments included the Sundance Institute Utah Advisory Board, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Discovery Gateway: Utah Children’s Museum, and Salt Lake Community Action.[7]

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In July 2017, Wilson announced her intention to run in 2018 for the U.S. Senate against Orrin Hatch. In January 2018, Hatch announced he would retire at the end of his seventh term, leaving the seat open.[8] Wilson raised nearly $140,000 in the second-quarter fundraising period.[9] The Republican Party eventually selected 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney to run against Wilson to replace Hatch.

Wilson lost the election on November 6, 2018, gaining 328,541 votes to Romney's 665,215.[10] Wilson had raised and spent just under $1 million on her campaign, compared to Romney's $5 million.[11]

Raised in Salt Lake City, one of five children, Wilson is the daughter of Ted Wilson, mayor of Salt Lake City from 1976–1985, and Kathy Wilson, an artist and small business owner. She graduated from East High School in 1983 and the University of Utah in 1988, and received a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1998.[18] In 2013, she produced and directed a documentary film, The Grand Rescue, about a dramatic three-day rescue by park rangers, one of whom was her father, on the North Face of the Grand Teton.[19]

Wilson and her husband, Trell Rohovit, have two children.[6]