Meet the candidate: Michelle Quist, running for Utah Attorney General

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 — Michelle Quist is running for Utah Attorney General for the United Utah Party. 

Quist is an attorney and has been a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune.

She spoke with KSL At Night hosts Adam Gardiner and Andy Cupp on Oct. 9, 2024. An abbreviated transcript, and the full podcast, are below.

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KSL NewsRadio has modified this interview transcript for brevity and clarity.

HOST ADAM GARDINER:  I see some of the presidential candidates are having a tough time articulating why they’re the best candidate, and I haven’t found that to be the case with our local and statewide candidates. So why should voters vote for you?

CANDIDATE MICHELLE QUIST: I have the best vision for the office. As Utahns know, the [Utah] Attorney General’s Office has had issues for decades. We’ve had three administrations of problems. We’ve had scandals and headlines and pay-to-play politics … My vision for the office is that we need reform and accountability. We need to get the politics out of the office.

HOST ANDY CUPP:  On your website, you say your three top policy issues are to protect women and children, to support law enforcement, and to stop government corruption.  tell us a little bit about how you would protect women and children.

QUIST:  I think we have had an attorney’s general office that has ignored local issues. We have children who are being abused and the local government officials don’t even know it, school officials don’t even know it, [and] neighbors don’t even know it.  We have a high domestic violence rate in Utah, and we have a new lethality assessment protocol that I want to make sure police are trained on. [I want] to make sure every county law enforcement agency enforces and enacts that new protocol.

Michelle Quist on Utah’s social media lawsuits

CUPP:  What are your thoughts on the current lawsuits that the state is involved in against social media companies? 

QUIST: There are issues with that legislation. [It] violates the First Amendment rights of some Utahns … We need to make sure the legislation is rewritten so that that isn’t happening. But, there are issues with social media companies affecting and injuring our children, and I would continue to make sure that we ferret that out.

GARDINER:  Can you expound on your qualifications and kind of your resume as an attorney?

QUIST:  I started my career as a wall street lawyer in litigation and appellate work. I’ve been a clerk for a judge on the 10th Circuit and a staff attorney on the 10th Circuit. I’ve been a dean of admissions for a law school. I’m now a litigator and appellate attorney for a firm in Salt Lake. I’ve been appointed by the governor and Utah Supreme Court too committees and commissions here in Utah, [and] I served two times as a Utah Bar Commissioner.

Listen to the full interview from KSL at Night here:

 

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