Editor’s note: KSL.com features stories on the four Republican candidates in the June 25 primary election seeking to replace Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. Today, a look at Brad Wilson. Jason Walton appeared on Tuesday; John Curtis on Wednesday; and Trent Staggs will appear on Friday.
KAYSVILLE – Brad Wilson was born in Layton and now lives in Kaysville, so he knows the area around Davis and Weber counties well.
He also knows people well.
Wilson credits his personal relationships with local residents for helping him achieve a victory in his initial 2010 bid for the Utah Legislature in state House District 15. Those relationships helped him win reelection a half-dozen times, and his relationships with his legislative colleagues ultimately helped him. him ascend to the position of speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, a position he held from 2019 until last fall, when he stepped aside to run to replace Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate.
With just weeks before the June 25 Republican primary to fill Romney’s seat, Wilson hopes to quickly expand his relationships with voters across the state in an effort to stand out from the other three contenders.
Sitting at a nondescript desk in a spartan Provo campaign office last week, Wilson stares at a laptop screen as an automated program scrolls through a phone list of registered voters in Davis and Weber counties, and their information. Caller ID flashes on the screen before the system. goes to the next number. It’s just before 5 p.m., so most calls go straight to voicemail; Presumably the residents are still at work. Even on a good day, the response rate to cold calls is extremely low, one of his employees said.
Wilson recognizes at least some of the names that appear on his screen and knows at least one person who revisits previous political events. A couple of other people recognize Wilson from his TV ad, in which he speeds a red Chevrolet Chevelle past a car wearing a “Biden” license plate, leaving the “cowardly RINOs” (Republicans in name only) “in the dust.”
One woman liked that one of Wilson’s opponents had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, but said “there was someone else who was good, but I don’t remember if it was you or someone else.”
“It’s absolutely me,” Wilson said with a smile.
U.S. Senate candidate Brad Wilson poses for a portrait at the Deseret News office in Salt Lake City on April 4. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Legislative record
Wilson’s years in the Utah Legislature have brought him a wealth of legislative accomplishments, and when faced with constituent concerns, he is quick to recall any number of policies enacted while he was president.
Worried about rising federal spending? Wilson oversaw a series of significant tax cuts in recent years and helped achieve a balanced state budget, as required by the Utah Constitution.
Do you want to see more emphasis on education? Under his tutelage, Utah lawmakers increased teacher pay and created the Utah Fits All scholarship, which students can use toward education expenses and private school tuition.
Concerned about current border and immigration policies? Wilson has the support of most Utah sheriffs and wants to relax federal regulations that he says make it difficult for county officials to detain undocumented immigrants.
Although not discussed as often among voters, Wilson helped push a series of laws through the Legislature aimed at protecting the Great Salt Lake, something his former legislative colleagues will remember him for. On his last day before resigning as president last November, several dozen lawmakers toasted Wilson on the Capitol steps with sparkling cider and named a Great Salt Lake fan boat, “Wilson’s Water Warrior,” in honor of Wilson. he.
“This airboat is not fancy. It’s a workhorse, just like you,” Joel Ferry, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, told him. “(The boat) has many good years ahead of it and I hope you do too.”
House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, closes the legislative session with a gavel in the House of Representatives at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on March 3, 2023. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
Utah Ties
Before returning phones to several campaign staff and volunteers, a voter asks Wilson what his top priority would be if he won the election.
“That’s a great question,” Wilson said. “Actually, I think it’s the right question because when we select someone to go back there, they’re going to come back and represent our state… I want to be a strong voice for all of Utah in Washington, D.C., and represent Utah to Washington, D.C. , not representing Washington, DC against Utah. We’ve had a lot of that.”
It’s a common Wilson refrain on the campaign trail: He wants to resist outside influence, if elected, and keep Utah’s values, needs and desires first. Saying that is one thing, but sticking to it is another.
When asked how he would actually resist outside influence, money and lobbying, Wilson drew on his experience as a state leader in the Legislature.
“I had a couple members of the (Congressional) delegation who were really great about communicating with me on a regular basis,” he said. Without naming names, he added: “There are two members of the delegation we have now who in five years while I was speaker of the House did not call me even once.”
Wilson has the support not only of state leaders such as Governor Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, his successor and a close personal friend, but he also has the backing from a majority of Republican state legislators, more than three… county sheriff’s barracks and a host of county commissioners and mayors.
Schultz, a Republican lawmaker from Hooper, praised Wilson effusively during a news conference last November to announce the results of an internal leadership vote among the Republican caucus, saying the outgoing speaker “leaves some huge shoes to fill.”
“I think the things we don’t talk about all the time, and at least you don’t see, is the way he made people feel and how his leadership skills really elevated everyone,” Schultz said. “I say this all the time…if we had 218 of him (in the House) and 60 in the Senate and a president who had all of his talents and abilities and his willingness to work together to bring people together, our nation would not do it.” would do”. Not being in the mess he’s in.”
During a news conference last October, Cox credited Wilson for arguing with all 75 state representatives, calling him “one of the best speakers we’ve had in the state.”
“I know Brad as well as anyone in the state, and that’s why I feel so confident that I’ve been able to work with him,” the governor said.
Wilson attributes that support to the trust he has developed with local leaders and believes those ties will keep him anchored to the changing landscape of needs on the home front.
“I think it’s part of my DNA right now: to be that guy who is a real advocate for Utah issues,” he said. “It’s not that there aren’t important federal issues you should pay attention to in the United States Senate, but if you forget where you’re from and stop representing those people, you’re not doing your state any favors.”
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow Keynote USA Local on Twitter.