Brian King has been in the Utah House of Representatives since 2009. His district includes Summit Park, Parleys Canyon, and a portion of Salt Lake City between Sugarhouse and Emigration Canyon.
King said policymaking at the state level has been much harder for Democrats in recent years. He blamed the Republican supermajority in the Utah Legislature for not wanting to work across the aisle.
“I think a lot of that has to do with increasing polarization based on party affiliation at the federal level unfortunately,” King said.
With the presidential election also next year, King said running for governor would give him the opportunity to spread the Democratic Party’s ideas statewide.
“I really think it’s necessary and important for Democrats in Utah to have someone at the top of the ticket in the statewide offices,” he said. “We don’t get as much opportunity as Democrats to really get our message out to Utahns as I’d like, and that’s in large part because we've got this supermajority situation in the Legislature.”
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox beat his Democratic opponent by more than 30 percentage points in 2020. King said he’s not discouraged.
“I do think that there is a chance for a good Democrat to win statewide office.”
He said the Great Salt Lake, women’s reproductive health, growth, and the future of public education are the critical issues facing Utahns.
“Unless things change in the next session, we’re going to have on the ballot in 2024 a constitutional amendment to our state constitution about how we fund public education,” King said. “If it passes, many people believe, and I’m in their camp, that it will result in a dramatic loss of resources for our public education system K-12. I don’t want to see that.”
King’s House seat is also up for reelection next year. He said he plans to make a decision about running for governor by the end of November.
Gov. Cox plans to run for a second term next year. Blanding resident and Republican state lawmaker Phil Lyman announced his intention to challenge Cox this week.
