Democratic state Rep. Brian King said he waded into Utah’s gubernatorial election this year because he believes the Republican Party’s decades-long monopoly on state politics is beginning to show cracks.
Running against Republican Gov. Spencer Cox in a state that regularly elects GOP incumbents by more than 30 percentage points is a “David versus Goliath kind of a situation,” King said. As the former state House minority leader he understands this better than most. But, like in the Biblical story, King believes history is on his side.
“If you have one party controlling both the executive and the legislative branches for 40 years ... you’re going to not have the best results in terms of policies and priorities and a vision that takes into account all the perspectives and all the diversity of the state of Utah,” King told the Deseret News editorial board on Monday.
King, a Latter-day Saint who has made his faith a key theme of his candidacy, said he drew motivation for his long shot campaign from a letter that was read in meetings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last summer. The letter urged Latter-day Saints to seek out candidates who demonstrate integrity and a devotion to public service “regardless of party affiliation.”
The church has issued statements declaring itself strictly “neutral in matters of party politics.” Members are encouraged to “engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner, respecting the fact that members of the church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan political matters.”
King’s Republican outreach
Utah hasn’t had a Democratic governor since 1984. There hasn’t been a Democratic majority in the state Legislature for even longer. The 29-seat Utah Senate currently has six Democrats and the 75-seat House has 14. But King said he believes Utahns are more open to changing their minds than they have been in a long time.
According to King, several factors — including demographic trends making Utah the youngest state in the nation, a desire for more political balance in the state, and a Republican Party that is divided over its own presidential nominee — could create the support needed to break the Beehive State’s government trifecta.
“How do you win the election? Well, one of the ways is we appeal to folks who are disillusioned and disenchanted with today’s Republican Party,” King said.
After former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley lost to former President Donald Trump in the Utah GOP’s preference poll, 56% to 43%, King issued a statement saying to Haley voters who felt their party no longer spoke for their “priorities and values” that they had a home in his candidacy.
King made a similar gesture to Republicans when Utah Gov. Spencer Cox reversed his longtime position toward Trump with an endorsement that came shortly after Trump was shot.
King has even welcomed comments from Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, who lost to Cox in the GOP primary, where Lyman suggests that a vote for King is better than a vote for Cox in the general election.
“I’ve never talked less about political party than I have in this election,” King said. “We are building a coalition of pragmatists in this campaign.”
In his reelection campaign, Cox has focused on his record during his first term as governor, including delivering tax cuts and leading efforts on litigation and legislation to protect children from the harms of social media. He has also made his national campaign “Disagree Better” key to his reelection efforts, something King has criticized Cox for.
Where does King stand on the issues?
Despite the electoral reality that he needs to persuade Republican voters, King said he is unwilling to shy away from his deeply-held Democratic views. His campaign website expresses support for increased public school funding, implementing higher taxes on the wealthy, investing in “green jobs” and expanding low-income healthcare programs.
During the state’s last legislative session, King was an outspoken critic of Cox’s decisions to back Republican bills on elected officials’ calendars, banning some diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and increasing penalties for individuals who use public bathrooms that don’t match their biological sex.
As minority leader, King also proposed gun control legislation requiring universal background checks on gun sales and led opposition to Utah’s 2020 abortion prohibition.
“We’ve learned that there are all sorts of things in the context of policy that don’t translate well from religious doctrine or practice or policies, and abortion is one of them,” King said.
King said he is personally against elective abortions. But he doesn’t think the law should be so strict on what he says is a “nuanced” issue. King said he doesn’t believe life begins with conception, and also said he doesn’t believe in abortions being legal up until the moment of birth.
If he were governor, King said he would support legislation that recognized a legal right to abortion up to fetal viability, or some other “reasoned, logical and supported line to be drawn” with the consensus of voters and medical experts.
While he generally aligns with the national Democratic Party on abortion, King said he finds plenty of room for disagreement, too. He said he thinks Democrats are often too focused on “identity politics,” basing ideological and policy views on “immutable characteristics” like race, ethnicity and sex.
“I don’t think that those are helping both the Democrats themselves and the broader group of people that they seek to represent,” King said.
The importance of political balance
King recognizes the many successes of Utah governance, including a great economy and rapid growth. These are things Cox points to in his own reelection campaign.
But King said he would use his veto authority to send a signal to legislators to be more thoughtful with their legislation. And if he is unable to influence legislation because of supermajority support, then King said he would use his platform to educate Utah voters on the issues.
The Legislature’s decision to reject redistricting recommendations from an independent commission, and to restrict access to elected officials’ calendars, were missed opportunities for Cox to veto legislation that hurt public trust in government, King said.
“Political balance is incredibly important,” he said. “We will go out, and as persuasively as possible, say, ‘Here are the good things that you’re going to realize in your day to day life, if we have better balance in the political makeup of the state of Utah.”
King will debate Cox on Sept. 11 at an event hosted by the Utah Debate Commission, he said. The general election is on Nov. 5.