SALT LAKE CITY – There are more than 230,000 active Democrats across the state and the Democratic Convention on Saturday brought many to Salt Lake City.
“We’ve got a lot of Democrats across the state who sort of feel like they’re isolated, and when we all come together, you enjoy the camaraderie,” said Brian King.
King is the Democratic candidate for governor and is pushing for more representation and balance.
“People recognize that the majority party has been really working on some extreme legislation and talking points that don’t reflect Utah values,” King said. “We as Democrats are working hard to provide that.”
King has served in the Utah Legislature since 2008 and as the House Minority Leader since 2015, serving 16 sessions in total.
“It’s been enjoyable to have a seat at the table and making policy for the better of the people of the state of Utah,” King said. “But it’s been frustrating, the longer I’ve served, to see how much more in the direction of extremism the majority party has moved.”
‘Unwillingness to stand up’
Gov. Spencer Cox, King said, has disappointed him with what King calls his “unwillingness to stand up to the extremists within his own party.”
Yet, at the Republican Convention, Cox was booed by his party for not being conservative enough. Something King believes shows only what the Republican Party values, not necessarily what the majority of Utahns feel.
“I’ve never seen the legislature further to the right,” King said. “That’s not where Utahns are, and it’s not where Utah’s need or want to be.”
Republicans have governed the state since 1985, after Gov. Scott Matheson served as the sixth Democratic governor. If elected, King would be the seventh.
“I just think we are going to be much better off if we have different perspectives brought to the table,” King said.
Different perspectives on Utah’s air quality, the Great Salt Lake and Education – all policies King hopes to prioritize.
He also believes government should not have a say in reproduction, and King hopes to give those decisions back to voters.
“This is personal to me,” King said. “I feel strongly about the fact that we should not have the legislature involved in those things.”
