My Personal Comments
We need to come out fighting in 2025
- Ben Peck needs to be our UDP Chair. I think that Brian King can help the party build fundraising efforts and recruit candidates, but he’s not the right candidate to lead the Utah State Party. Jonathan Lopez wasn’t prepared and came across as angry.
- The UDP has been running without a director, and has a disconnected outgoing chair. There has been a leadership void since well before the 2024 elections. It will be a scramble for a new team of leaders to come in, and that’s already hurting us.
- This debate focused on the UDP chair role, but my personal opinion is that we need a new vice chair as well so that an entirely new leadership team can step in.
- There was no discussion during the debate about the ethics of the role. There were questionable relationships and past behind-the-scenes collusion between the UDP board and campaign management companies. Candidate funneling, and some allegations of racism are legitimate.
- Developing a candidate pipeline is critical. The UDP was late to the table in the last election, and made poor decisions of financial investment in qualified candidates. There needs to be better vetting and initial investment in candidate campaigns.
- The UDP still has no established method of fundraising investment in Utah. There is no ‘blue circle’ to compete with the Utah Republicans ‘elephant club’ https://www.utahelephantclub.com/
- Strategies like “contest every race” without training qualified candidates, not supporting qualified Democratic candidates in favor of unaffiliated candidates, preferring statistical advantage and failing to bring the fight to important districts are all signs of poor leadership in the past.
Tick Tock
For 2025 municipal elections, candidate filing opens June 2, 2025
For 2026 mid-terms elections, candidate filing opens January 2, 2026
Video
See the timestamps below to jump to a specific question
Video Timestamps
6:06
Opening Statement: Jonathan Lopez
8:11
Opening Statement: Brian King
10:02
Opening Statement: Ben Peck
11:55
Q1: What do you believe is the role of the UDP at the state level, and how should it serve its members and its candidates?
17:45
Q2: What are your top priorities as Chair for the first 100 days and long term? How will your efforts strengthen the party’s infrastructure and direction?
23:40
Q3: Recent polling shows Democratic party approval rating of 36% nationally. 52% think the party is on the wrong track. How would you work to improve trust within the Democratic party, transparency and communication here in the state; but also work externally to repair the Democratic party brand while maintaining communication with grass roots members in the state of Utah?
30:20
Q4: Regarding the struggles of leadership…. What steps will you take to build a cohesive, effective leadership team that reflects the diversity and values of Utah Democrats?
34:45
Q5: Regarding issue and identity caucuses at large, the necessity or existence of caucuses and a debate whether to eliminate caucuses within the state party. How do you commit to support our caucuses and how do you see their role in strengthening the party?
41:15
Q6: What will you do to ensure ADA access at all party events, to ensure that we are in compliance for people who need special accommodations?
44:10
Q7: The need to reach out to rural voters… How do you plan to support county parties across Utah in rural communities, or historically under-resourced communities like Davis, Weber and Utah?
49:58
Q8: Democratic party has a mandate to elect Democrats. This necessitates quality recruitment prior to campaign season. Talk to us about the approach you would take for candidate recruitment for municipal and statewide offices, and what systems you would put in place to support those candidates throughout their campaigns?
55:43
Q9: Ideas cost money. We have mentioned party branding issues, and no state budget passed. How exactly do you plan to raise money for the UDP? Please be specific about fundraising goals and strategies.
1:01:25
Q10: Let’s talk statistics: there are 242,000 active registered Democrats, and 934,000 active registered Republicans in Utah. The numbers are ugly, but demographics are shifting. What investments will you make in voter outreach, voter registration, to voters of color, young voters and immigrant populations?
1:07:15
Q11: Utah is diverse. 42% are LDS; and 24,000 showed up for Bernie and AOC. We have to unify across all of our people. How will you bridge the divide between progressive and moderates in the party to ensure that all voices are respected and engaged?
1:13:35
Q12: It’s fair to say that parties aren’t an efficient organization – you can look at the UDP bylaws as an example. How would you reform the party if you had the ability to make one big change overnight?
1:20:35
Q13: There are thousands of people gathering at protests and rallies, with different methods of mobilizing and organizing here and across the state. How do you plan to capture and engage these folks? How do you see the party’s involvement at these events?
1:28:05
Q14: Audience Question: Angel Vice, Chair of the UDP Women’s Caucus
Our caucuses have been at all the events, tabling, providing signs, providing training, inviting party officials. Disappointed to hear candidates say that caucuses aren’t engaged. Aside from Ben, why wasn’t Jonathan or Brian at these events?
1:32:45
Q15: Audience Question: Jennifer Miller-Smith, Chair of the UDP Disability Caucus
The Moab Art Center Building has a giant staircase, was site to host the UDP central committee meeting in December, and Grand county party held their convention. If disabled members are recruited, how are they supposed to go to these events, and what is the policy for not following our governing documents?
1:36:38
Q16: Audience Question: Angela, Black Caucus
In the past, candidates of color have experienced racism within the party. Examples include sending campaign materials without their consent less than 2 weeks before an election, or having vendors currently on payroll who support running independent candidates against our currently elected women of color. If elected Chair, how will you work to address to actively dismantle this racism?
1:40:45
Closing Statement: Ben Peck
1:42:57
Closing Statement: Brian King
1:44:49
Closing Statement: Jonathan Lopez