LISTEN: Gubernatorial candidate Brian King chooses Rebekah Cummings as running mate

SALT LAKE CITY — State Representative and gubernatorial candidate Brian King announced that Rebekah Cummings as his running mate Monday afternoon.

Cummings is currently the director of digital matters at the University of Utah and serves as a Utah State Library Board chairwoman. According to a press release from King’s campaign, she is an advocate against book banning and other “academic censorship.” 

“Utahns will be well served by Rebekah’s leadership through her advocacy for intellectual freedom and commitment to empowering families,” King said in a press release. 

Today, I’m officially joining @kingforutah as the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

I’m so deeply honored by this opportunity, and I look forward to working alongside Brian to build a coalition of pragmatists, not purists—for the better. pic.twitter.com/0thnfKn1C9

— Rebekah Cummings (@RebekahCummings) April 29, 2024

 

Cumming’s first interview

Rebekah Cummings joined KSL at Night Monday for her first interview as a lieutenant-governor hopeful.  

“I am so honored and humbled to be selected as Brian’s running mate,” Cummings said. “I’ve been a constituent of his for the past 11 years and I’ve always felt real represented by [him].”

Part of Cumming’s personal history is her passion for books and academic freedom. 

“I never would have dreamed that I’d be as involved [in politics] as I am, but I started to become really concerned about this back in 2018, when [book banning] first started,” she said.  “Libraries have always welcomed challenges…  But they were coming by the hundreds and by people who obviously haven’t read the books in their entirety.” 

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Ultimately, she said can offer Utahns a different kind of representation, a representation many have been looking for. 

“[Utahns are] tired of culture wars, they’re tired of extremism,” she said. “[Utah’s] obviously a Republican state … [But] I think lot of people feel politically homeless. They maybe grew up thinking they were Republicans, but feel disenchanted with the state of government.” 

Cummings said she’s also dedicated to getting water to the Great Salt Lake, cleaning up the air, providing public schools with enough funding and protecting individual freedoms.

“Trusting that they can make the best choices for their own reproductive health, or what books they want to read,” she said. 

The rural/urban divide and pragmatic governance

Cummings said she wants to make an effort throughout her campaign to hear Utah’s rural voice. 

“I’m really eager to hear directly from rural Utahns, and hear what [their] concerns are because I still have more to learn in this area,” she said. “But I think just in general, what Democrats have to offer rural Utahans [is] making sure there are things like living wages that keep up with the cost of housing, the cost of living [and] making sure that more people have healthcare, that we have equity in educational access.”

Another key part of her and King’s campaign, she said, is a focus on pragmatic governance.

Cummings described that concept as, “thinking more about how we can help people in making good decisions, over worrying about ideological purity.” 

She said we can’t always expect everyone to agree with each other 100% of the time. 

“It’s okay that we have some disagreements, but [it’s important] that we’re listening to people in good faith, talking to lots of different people to hear what they care about, and passing laws that actually make their lives better,” she said.