Meet the candidate: Rep. Brian King, running for Utah governor
Oct 3, 2024, 6:00 AM
Brian King is running as the Democratic candidate for the office of Utah governor. He spoke with KSL At Night hosts about his campaign. (www.kingforutah.com)
(www.kingforutah.com)
As Election Day draws near, KSL NewsRadio is interviewing candidates to get their stance on today’s issues. Keep an eye on our election coverage as we continue speaking to the 2024 General Election candidates.
SALT LAKE CITY — State Rep. Brian King is running as the Democratic candidate for the office of Utah governor.
According to his web page, King is an attorney. [He] “specializes in those whose mental health and substance use disorder treatment claims were denied by insurance companies.”
King has served in the Utah House of Representatives since 2009. He was the Utah House Minority Leader from 2015 to 2023.
He spoke with KSL At Night hosts Leah Murray and Andy Cupp on September 17, 2024. We have provided a partial transcript and the full podcast below.
This interview has been modified for brevity and clarity.
HOST LEAH MURRAY: Today, we are chatting with Brian King, the Democratic candidate for governor. I feel like a campaign is an answer to the question, ‘Why should a voter vote for me?’ How does your campaign answer it?
REP. BRIAN KING: I served in the Legislature now for 16 years. I’m an attorney in real life … I’ve enjoyed it, but I’ve been a Democrat [in the Utah Legislature], sort of a David versus Goliath situation …
We’ve had one-party control for the Legislature and the governor’s office now for literally decades.
Monopoly on political power or policymaking is not good for the people of Utah. We’re all going to do better if we have a better balance of power in Utah state government.
What would get done in Utah government if Brian King is elected?
HOST ANDY CUPP: If we elected a Democratic governor, more than likely we’ll still have a Republican supermajority in the Legislature.
Would that lead to gridlock? If you stood up to the Legislature, vetoing bills that you disagree with, would anything get done?
KING: We passed, in the [last] legislative session, close to 600 bills in the last session.
The great majority of them don’t come down along Republican versus Democrat, Team Red, Team Blue lines. They’re bills to the benefit of Utahns that are just problem-solving mechanisms. I don’t envision that’s going to change at all.
I think that if the Legislature knew that on bills that come down along partisan lines, [bills] that are highly divisive, the governor is going to push back, it’s going to make the Legislature more likely to not overreach and to not try to push bills that aren’t in the interests of Utahns.
How to help Utahns in a skyrocketing housing market
MURRAY: [On your website] you say housing costs in Utah have skyrocketed. If we want our children and grandchildren to be able to stay here and raise their families here, we need to take action.
What specific action could you initiate out of the governor’s office to help address that crisis?
KING: We’ve got a good program right now in place to help first-time homebuyers get some … financial assistance through state money. I think we could expand that.
We’ve got a lot of speculators. A lot of venture capital funds and hedge funds who come into Utah.
[They] purchase Utah properties purely for speculative or investment purposes. That drives up the price of Utah properties, Utah housing stock.
[But] for Utahns, it’s not a good thing to have happen. We ought to be talking about disincentives for speculative buying by out-of-state people who have no intention of living here.
Related reading:
- Utah’s 2024 debate for governor features 3 candidates
- Meet the candidate: Rob Latham, running for Utah Governor
- Meet the candidate: Skyler Beltran for Utah County Commissioner
- Meet the candidate: Alan Wessman for Utah County Commissioner
