1st District US House race pits Blake vs Parry; 3 seek 2nd District post
The hopefuls in the 1st District U.S. House race are Republican Blake Moore, left, and Democrat Darren Parry.
Republican 2nd District U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart.
Libertarian candidate for the 2nd District U.S. House seat J. Robert Latham.
Democrat Kael Weston is a candidate for the 2nd District U.S. House seat.
A new representative will be serving in Utah’s 1st District U.S. House seat.
Rep. Rob Bishop, the Brigham City Republican who’s finishing his ninth term, isn’t running again, so it’s down to Republican Blake Moore and Democrat Darren Parry. The 1st District covers northern Davis County, Weber County and eight other northern and northeastern Utah Counties.
In the 2nd District U.S. House race, Rep. Chris Stewart, the four-term GOP incumbent from Farmington, faces a pair of challengers, Democrat Kael Weston and Libertarian Rob Latham. The 2nd District covers southern Davis County, extending into part of Salt Lake City all the way south to St. George and the Arizona state line.
Photos supplied
The 2nd District U.S. House hopefuls are, from left, Republican incumbent Chris Stewart, Libertarian J. Robert Latham and Democrat Kael Weston.
Moore, a management consultant from Salt Lake City, and Parry, a leader in the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation who lives in Providence, are both seeking public office for the first time.
Moore has stressed his conservative outlook, problem-solving abilities and his experience abroad with the U.S. State Department in Asia. “My professional experience in management consulting, foreign affairs and healthcare set me apart as the best candidate to address the hurdles we will be facing for the next several years,” he said on his website. “Regardless of the topic, the approach we take and the ability to engage with and energize key stakeholders is what determines success.”
With his foreign service background, he’d “work to bring China to task” and push for a global response led by the United States to the global COVID-19 hit. He’d seek replacement of the Affordable Care Act “with a market-driven solution,” while on immigration he calls for securing the U.S.-Mexico border before broader reform, a common GOP stance.
Parry says he’s a moderate Democrat, with appeal to GOPers across the Republican-leaning district. He’s also an outspoken proponent for the indigenous community.
He favors keeping public lands in federal hands as a means of protecting them. “Future generations also deserve to be able to enjoy these public lands in a healthy and preserved state,” he said on his website. He also calls climate change “the single biggest threat to the world” and backs implementation of a carbon tax to help counter it.
He supports same-sex marriage and also backs the Black Lives Matter movement. “As a member of a minority community, I understand systematic racism and will fight to create an inclusive culture,” he said.
2nd DISTRICTStewart, touting support for “conservative values,” cites his expertise on national security issues and efforts to put federally controlled lands in state hands. Thanks to his efforts, “we’re opening up more land for people to use and enjoy not closing more of it off,” his website reads.
More broadly, he worries of losing personal liberties “to a radical socialist agenda,” his website reads. He created the Anti-Socialism Caucus in Congress and voiced support for the free-market system.
Weston, a Marine Corps University instructor from Salt Lake City, served with the U.S. State Department in Iraq and Afghanistan. That experience colors his outlook. “I represented our country for over a decade and my years with the State Department gave me a unique perspective on the crucial importance of leadership, service, empathy, courage and ethics,” he said in a campaign statement.
The political system is failing “the disenfranchised and vulnerable” and he voiced concern with partisanship in politics. “Small people in big jobs create division instead of focusing on health care, a living wage, climate, civil rights, education and post-COVID economic recovery. It is going to take all of us working together — Democrats, Republicans, unaffiliated — to rebuild our economy and make sure our country does not leave anyone behind,” Weston said.
Latham, a lawyer from St. George, worries of overt government involvement.
The CARES Act was “the largest corporate robber of taxpayers,” and the Patriot Act enabled “abuses of innocent Americans,” a campaign statement reads. He voiced support on his website for “the non-aggression principle” as “the most ethical and practical way of being.”
He cites his efforts as a lawyer defending parental rights and more. “Has successfully and tenaciously advocated for the interests of fellow Utahns for more than a generation,” his statement reads.
Election Day is Nov. 3.