Utah’s 3rd District candidates want to solve America’s problems. But can they do it civilly?

Candidates for Utah’s open 3rd Congressional District debated how to boost economic growth amid ballooning debt, a growing population and an upcoming Olympics in a televised appearance on Thursday.
But their biggest disagreement may have been how to treat each other.
State Sen. Mike Kennedy, the Republican nominee to replace Rep. John Curtis, pitched himself as a legislative problem solver, willing to work with anybody to find solutions on debt, welfare and immigration.
Meanwhile, former Summit County Councilman Glenn Wright painted Kennedy as a threat to voters’ rights because of his views on abortion, LGBTQ issues and former president Donald Trump.
While Kennedy complimented his opponent on multiple occasions, including thanking Wright for his service as an Air Force pilot in the Vietnam War, Wright took aim at Kennedy for his profession as a medical doctor and state lawmaker.
Following the close of the debate, Wright approached Kennedy for a handshake. During the exchange, Wright used an expletive to describe Kennedy’s response to questions. “You sling some real bull (expletive),” Wright was heard saying.
Wright defended his treatment of his debate opponent during a post-debate media scrum. Wright said he told Kennedy what he honestly thought of him and said that he doesn’t think Kennedy “deserves” to represent Utah.
“I think he will be a danger to the country and to Utah,” Wright said.
Kennedy called the initial comment “frankly shocking.”
“I believe we should have civility and thoughtfulness. And that last comment that he made was not civil and was not thoughtful,” Kennedy said.
The candidates were asked mostly about economic issues in the hour-long debate hosted by the Utah Debate Commission in Studio C of Brigham Young University’s broadcasting building on Thursday evening. The debate was moderated by Leah Murray, the director of the Olene Walker Institute of Politics at Weber State University.
Running through the candidates’ responses was the theme of how or whether Congress can work together across partisan divides on the biggest issues affecting Americans’ financial futures.
Kennedy said voters are frustrated with a Congress that can’t find commonsense consensus on items ranging from the border to budgeting. If elected to Congress, Kennedy committed to work with any civil-minded lawmaker as he said he did in the state Legislature.
“I think a measure of a successful congressperson is that they actually care about working on the issues, that they’re willing to work with civility on the issues of the day, and actually take ideas from anybody that’s willing to contribute those ideas and work positively with people,” Kennedy said.
In response to the same question, Wright accused Kennedy of simply voting along with the the state’s Republican supermajority. Wright told reporters after the debate that Kennedy can’t be trusted to vote independently because of his support for Trump.
Wright described Trump’s messaging as filled with “one racist, hate-filled trope after another,” and called on Kennedy to denounce the GOP nominee for president. Wright said he proved his own bipartisanship by working with conservative commissioners in the state’s association of counties.
Kennedy said the 2034 Winter Olympic Games coming to Utah is a huge opportunity for the state to respond to rapid population growth. Kennedy said he would dedicate himself to securing federal money for big infrastructure projects in Utah, like double-tracking the Frontrunner, building more east-to-west highway corridors and building new water distribution systems.
But Kennedy said innovation, like desalination plants for more fresh water, not government funding, will lead to more lasting solutions for population growth.
Wright agreed that whoever represents the 3rd District, which includes Sandy, Draper, most of Utah County and all of eastern Utah, should help prepare for the Olympics. But he said addressing climate change, by encouraging “zero-carbon” energy sources, is a much more important thing to be concerned about.
If Congress doesn’t continue the progress made in the Inflation Reduction Act, Wright predicted it is “highly unlikely” Utah will have enough snow to host the games if they cycle back in 2054.
The candidates, while sitting on opposite sides of the aisle, stand on the same side when it comes to the process to pass a national budget. Congress needs to return “regular order” budgeting, where all 12 appropriations bills pass through their respective subcommittees and are brought to the floor with time to debate and amend, Kennedy and Wright agreed.
Kennedy vowed to never vote for a last-minute omnibus spending package, while Wright said he would vote for a temporary spending package if it was needed to avoid a government shutdown.
They were also on the same page about the main cause of the country’s spending disaster: mandatory spending programs, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid which are never voted on.
Kennedy said he would use his background as a physician to reform Medicaid and Medicare to reduce abuse and increase efficiency. Wright said he would support removing the payroll tax cap on Social Security and opening up more legal pathways for migrant workers to come to the U.S. to increase tax revenue
“We don’t have enough workers to feed tax money into the system,” Wright said. “We need to massively increase legal immigration into the country and get people on the working roles.”
The candidates diverged in their approach to other top issues facing the economy.
Housing:
Artificial intelligence:
The general election for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District will be Tuesday, Nov. 5. Voters began to receive ballots from their county clerks this week. The Deseret News’ election and political coverage can be found here.