Snyderville Basin resident Kris Campbell has filed to run against Republican Kera Birkeland for what has been known until now as House District 53. After last year’s redistricting process, the newly numbered district became District 4 and includes a bit more of the Snyderville Basin population, as well as Summit, Morgan, and Rich counties.
Campbell says he’s interested in changing the divisive politics of the state house...
I'm really interested in combating the division and the polarization that we're seeing so much around our country around our state,” Campbell said. “And that this is an opportunity for me to jump in and hold some conversations, help to bring us together and find our common interests or common values and work for those together.”
Campbell first got involved in politics when he worked to reverse tax reform legislation in 2019 that would have lowered the income tax but make up the shortfall by taxing a number of new consumer services, like ridesharing, parking garages and streaming media.
“And I found that to be a really inspiring effort to see how people from all sorts of different backgrounds could come together and work to advocate for fair taxes for a reasonable policy,” he said. “And it was really rewarding to see that kind of unity. Then, as part of the Leadership 27 class 27 project last year, we worked on redistricting, and trying to get fair boundaries so that we could be represented in particular Summit County has been split up into many different districts and has not been represented by somebody who lives in Summit County for a while. And so, I would like to help bring a voice for Summit County to the state legislature.”
Campbell says if elected, he would also work to clean up the quality of the state’s legislative process.
“I want fewer bills that are higher quality” Campbell said. “I don't like to see all the last minute shenanigans where things get snuck in, and nobody's had a chance to review it. I really think that if we can listen better and collaborate with people, instead of getting into adversarial relationships, the public against the legislature, but the public with the legislature's then we can get to better solutions that work for everybody across the state.”
Campbell is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Utah researching methods to measure brain shape changes related to cognition. He says he loves to explore Utah’s parks with his two daughters. He will be rolling out a website and Facebook page soon. In the meantime, you can contact him via email at Kriscambell@Kris4utah.com. That’s Kris with a K and the number four.
