The Utah Debate Commission is finishing a poll this week that will determine which state candidates will be eligible to participate in their debates this fall. The US Congressional Seat for District 1 has four candidates running. Green party candidate, Adam Davis joined KPCW to talk about his campaign and why he wants to go to the US Congress. Carolyn Murray has this:
The Green Party candidate, Adam Davis, says he is in the race to offer Utahns a different perspective than what is found in candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties. He grew up in Ogden and feels like the structure of the economy is backwards.
“I feel like there is a lot of going back and for the between Republican and Democratic voices. I don’t think it’s gotten us to where we need to be in terms of economics, in terms of where we are socially and politically. I am trying to bring something different to the table. Hopefully something that can break the strangle hold of just having a political pendulum”
Davis says he does not think the existing two party system addresses the needs of working people in the US who are struggling to make ends meet.
“Our economics is a mess. It’s upside down. We’ve got people that aren’t bringing anything to society but are making all the money. We’ve got people such as teachers, people that do garbage collection for a living. People that actually do the jobs that are valuable to society, are getting paid the least whereas we have CEO’s. We have Wallstreet making all the money and getting all the economic gains."
Davis says he wants immigration policies to be more compassionate and more humane.
“Obviously DACA has been a big part of that. We’ve got to see a deal on that. We’ve got to stop messing around with things like a border wall and stuff that’s just not going to help the problem. How can we make a more humane system where we don’t have ICE raiding people’s homes in the middle of the night and tearing families apart.”
He says it’s time to stop arguing about climate change.
I would like to see legalization for hemp. There’s a lot of industrial uses. There’s a lot of benefit to that in terms of replacing plastic, concretes and all kinds of different fibers that can be made with hemp that can move us down towards the path of sustainability. I think there is a lot of work to be done there as well. There’s been a lot of argument over…well you know climate change is real… and oh no it’s not…and I really feel that it’s time to stop arguing over what we think is and isn’t happening and just take better care of our home. We all live here and we just need to take better care of it and I think that’s something we can mostly agree on.”
Davis thinks it is a long shot that he will make it through the Utah Debate Commission polls and be able to join Lee Castillo, Democratic candidate and Republican incumbent Rob Bishop on the debate stage in October. The Debate Commission is finishing up their polling this week. They are asking respondents to select who they would vote for if voting today. Any candidate who gets 10 % will be approved to participate in the debate for US congress.
“I would love to see the debate commission be more open about those voices. I think all ballot qualified candidates should be on that debate stage. I don’t think theres any reason to exclude voices from that process.”
Davis says for the Green Party to remain on future ballots in Utah, they must receive 2% of the popular vote in November.
