Congressman Blake Moore has only served one term in congress and isn’t as well-known as his predecessor, Rob Bishop, was. That opens him up to policial challengers, not only in November’s election, but from a Republican primary, too.
One candidate hoping to capitalize on that opportunity is William Campbell.
Campbell describes himself as a political outsider, having never run for office before, and says his political views lay to the right of Moore.
Campbell told KPCW he voted for former President Donald Trump twice. He does not believe the 2020 election was stolen, but says more could be done to secure our elections.
When it comes to the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, he said the events were concerning, but he does not support the efforts of the House Select Committee investigating the attack.
“I personally don’t think that was the proudest moment in our history, and I was a little bit concerned when it was happening," he says. "But in the same sense, I view it in the same way as persons expressing an interest and looking for an outlet in terms of the best way to communicate their message.”
An accountant by trade, Campbell has been in the business world for over 30 years and served as CFO of Autoliv, an automotive safety supplier, for the last 15.
Campbell says he’s a strong believer in self-reliance, especially when it comes to energy. While he supports green energy like solar and wind power, he says federal money should not be spent investing in it because the technology isn’t good enough yet.
“In general, I’m against federal subsidies because, again, I’m a big supporter of capitalism," says Campbell. "I do believe we need to increase our self reliance here in the country. Similar to Europe being dependent upon Russia and Ukraine for energy today, I believe we as a country need to become more self reliant. At the time, I believe we need to secure more of our food supply, more of our health resources, energy, and other resources locally, so I would support that along those lines.”
According to election aggregator Ballotpedia, in addition to Campbell and Moore, Andrew Badger and Tina Cannon are also seeking the Republican nomination for the 1st district.
The Utah Republican primary will be held on June 28th before election day on November 8th.
You can find the full interview with Campbell here.