CACHE COUNTY – As far as local candidate Barbara Haggerty is concerned, the race for the House District Seat 2 in the Utah Legislature is no laughing matter.
A Cache Valley native and mother of two children, Haggerty describes herself as a stand-up comedian, but lately has been spending her time listening to gatherings of local residents rather than delivering laugh lines to them.
“This campaign is focused on listening first,” the Democratic hopeful explains, “implementing practical solutions and tackling problems that should never have been put on the back burner.
“Leadership requires the ability to listen and the decency to treat the people you serve with dignity when it comes to hearing their concerns,” Haggerty adds. “We want transparency, someone to defend our right to an independent judicial system and tangible solutions to real problems.”
In House District 2, Haggerty is up against three-term incumbent Rep. Mike Petersen (R-North Logan) in a deeply red district. That’s a big challenge, she acknowledges, made even more difficult by the fact that Petersen sailed to victory in 2024 over his last Democratic opponent (Tom Liljegren) by a vote margin of nearly 50 percent.
Even so, Haggerty freely admits that Petersen is not “some evil force sent here from wherever to make our lives miserable.”
“The thing that (Petersen) lacks is the ambition and commitment to be a squeaky wheel for rural northern Utah,” she argues. “Families are being priced out of the towns they grew up in and he hasn’t even talked about it. Not anywhere that I can find, anyway.”
On housing affordability and other issues, Haggerty has a bone to pick with the entire Legislature, in fact.
In campaign posts on Facebook and other social media platforms, the Democratic candidate has complained that Cache Valley is being treated like a disposable resource with incoherent water laws, a lack of state investment and starter homes that cost half a million dollars.
“I’m here to change that,” she says optimistically in video posts.
“When it comes to tens of millions of taxpayer dollars,” Haggerty emphasizes, “I expect a good justification as to why it’s being spend on things nobody has asked for.”
The Democratic candidate doesn’t expect to change the Legislature by herself, but rather by bringing the voices of residents of House District 2 with her to the State Capitol.
“I want…to ensure that you’re heard, respected and you know your voice matters,” Haggerty promises House District 2 residents.
“That’s kind of the whole point of having a representative on the House floor.”