Glenn Wright acknowledges that the district he is running to represent is heavily Republican – and that incumbent John Curtis is his favorite elected Utah official in Washington.
But nonetheless, he said he’s throwing his hat in the ring for Utah’s third congressional district after state Democratic Party leaders asked him to.
“I got a call and it was someone in the state party who was trying to recruit me to run for CD 3. They convinced me that they didn't have anybody at that time signed up for that position. And they would really appreciate it if I would run. The purpose is to have someone who can give an alternative message to the incumbent during the election cycle.”
Environmental issues and climate change will be his campaign’s major discussion points. Wright noted Curtis’s work on those fronts and said he hopes that campaign conversations will spark more commitment and action on those topics in Washington.
“I'm hoping to not only give my point of view, but maybe even move him a little bit in our direction. And one of the activities I'm getting engaged with here in Summit County is with Citizens Climate Lobby, which is pushing the carbon fee and dividend, which is really a conservative, originally Republican point of view on how do we address climate change. So I would try to encourage him to move a little bit further on that and actually propose it in Congress and vote for it.”
Before that, Wright needs to secure his party’s nomination. Around the same time Wright filed his papers, Democrat Archie Williams did so as well. The Democratic caucuses are a couple of weeks away. That’s where delegates will decide which Democrat to put on the ballot.
Wright said he’ll reach out to delegates in the coming days to ask for their votes. If at least 60 % of them vote for him he’ll proceed to the ballot. If neither he nor Williams get 60% they’ll head to a primary.
Campaign plans include focusing on a primarily digital platform, and ensuring campaign work doesn’t impinge on county council duties.
Wright is a veteran of the Air Force who served two tours in Vietnam. He had a 30-year career in industrial safety with the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and has served on the Summit County Council since 2017. He and his wife have three children and four grandchildren.
He said that he plans to address global events like the invasion of Ukraine.
“The sanctions program I think is going to be extremely effective. The question of a no-fly zone is a very tough one. People throw that out like it's an easy thing to do. Some of the things we would have to do would be to take out any aircraft, radar positions and missile sites that are not even necessarily in Ukraine, then we'd be in Belarus and also in Russia, or no fly zone the Ukraine will not be a loss-free activity.”
On the domestic front, Wright called Jan 6th a black mark in American history and an insurrection. He favors full prosecution of those who participated, and called supporters of the attack on the capitol traitors.