LOGAN – During a night when 2nd Congressional District candidates traded shots in the face-off sponsored by the Utah Debate Commission at Utah State University, the challenger landed a game-changing haymaker.
In response to a question from moderator Heidi Hatch about midway through the Oct. 13 debate, incumbent U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-1st Dist.) launched into a one-minute explanation of a proposed congressional permitting bill that he hopes will provide substantive relief from nationwide inflation.
In his response, Democratic candidate Peter Crosby of Providence countered that “ … we don’t need hope; we need votes.”
The challenger argued that inflation is obviously being fueled by the rising cost of gasoline due to the war in Iran and the Trump administration’s broad tariff policies.
“Congress is the most powerful branch of the federal government,” Crosby explained. “We could end the war in Iran … We could end the broad tariff regime. We could.
“It would only take one or two Republicans to cross the aisle and say that they’re going to put the needs of their districts ahead of party loyalty or loyalty to an executive who is perhaps a little strategically challenged when it comes to putting the needs of Americans first.
“That wouldn’t require committee work,” Crosby said flatly. “It would just require courage.”
The rival candidates sparred throughout the hour-long debate, trading punches over topics related to data centers, the Great Salt Lake, renewable energy, affordable housing and the federal deficit.
In that civil exchange, the incumbent congressman was most off-balance when he was obliged to defend Trump administration economic policies and the lack-luster legislative record of the 119th Congress.
Time and again, Crosby’s comments circled back to the harsh realities of economics and their impact of residents of northern Utah.
“Tariffs are fine, when they are used strategic purposes,” the Democrat observed. “But our policy isn’t strategic; it’s an effective tax on the American public and its people that disproportionately hurts our agricultural community.”
Given its economic impact at gas pumps throughout in northern Utah, Moore was obliged to lamely acknowledge the failures of the Trump administration’s efforts to bring that seemingly endless conflict in the Middle East to a close.
The Crosby-Moore exchange was the last of four face-offs sponsored by the Utah Debate Commission featuring the candidates for Utah four seats in Congress.