Meet the candidate: Glenn Wright running to represent Utah’s 3rd Congressional District

As Election Day nears, KSL NewsRadio is interviewing candidates to get their stance on today’s issues. Keep an eye on our election coverage as we continue to speak to the 2024 General Election candidates.

SALT LAKE CITY — Glenn Wright is running as a Democrat for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District. 

Wright describes himself as an aerospace engineering graduate, Vietnam combat veteran, and pilot. He is a former Summit County Councilman and has worked on the Utah Association of Counties board.

Wright spoke with KSL At Night hosts Adam Gardiner and Andy Cupp on Oct. 9, 2024. A portion of the transcript, and the complete podcast, are below.

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This interview has been modified for brevity and clarity.

HOST ADAM GARDINER: Glenn, tell listeners who you are and why you got into this race.

CANDIDATE GLENN WRIGHT:  I’m a Vietnam Veteran. In 1965 I entered college in upstate New York, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. My interest was getting a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. I joined Air Force ROTC and did two tours in the Vietnam War as a forward air controller. What the drones do today. Then I flew a small business jet in Europe, flying NATO staff around. One of the reasons I’m in the race is because I think we have some serious international problems with the presidential candidate, who my opponent is in favor of, who is trying to destroy NATO and help the war criminal from Moscow reestablish the Iron Curtain in Central Europe.

GARDINER:  We’re obviously talking about Donald Trump here, and in your issues you’re taking with Trump. Are his foreign policy positions the reason you’re jumping into this?

WRIGHT:  There are lots of other reasons, his domestic policies, his appointments to the Supreme Court that resulted in the Dobbs decision. I think it’s a great imposition on personal agency for the women of our state and for the country.

What Glenn Wright says he’ll do on the first day in office

GARDINER:  If you … win this seat, what’s the first bill that you file when you get into Congress?

WRIGHT: I would sign on to comprehensive immigration reform.

GARDINER:  Are you talking about a new immigration reform package?

WRIGHT:  I would hope that a new process, a new bill, would combine the border security issues that were in [the] bill that Trump killed, and the proposals that President Biden proposed.

HOST ANDY CUPP:  The seat you’re looking to fill right now is held by John Curtis, and he has become very well known for the conservative climate caucus. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about your position on the environment, on climate?

WRIGHT:  I do believe we, over the next 20 years, we are going to need to transition to carbon-free energy, and that is going to have a serious impact on the Uinta basin and coal country. And we have to have economic methods to smooth out the dislocations that are probably going to occur in those counties.

Hear the interview in its entirety below.

Related reading:

• Five Republican challengers for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District to face off on the issues
• Utah’s delegation wants to change assumptions about Republicans and conservation

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