Local Democrats endorsed Dr. Patrick Belmont and Holly Gunther as their candidates for Utah House Seat 3 and 2 in the Nov. 8 election.
CACHE COUNTY – Local Democrats endorsed Holly Gunther and Patrick Belmont as their candidates for State Houses 2 and 3 respectively at their Cache County convention held Saturday.
At the Old Main auditorium, Party Chairman Brian R. Jurena introduced both candidates via technology.
Belmont was in Sandy attending a campaign boot camp hosted by the Farm Bureau and Gunther was on a previously scheduled business trip.
Belmont said he was running on water, clean air and related topics.
He added that a one-party system was not serving the state well, as we’d seen on Friday with the Legislature over-riding a gubernatorial veto of House Bill 11, which banned transgender athletes from high school girls’ sports.
“So we’ve got a real opportunity here,” Belmont said. “This is a winnable race.”
“We cannot, in good conscience, call ourselves ‘pro-family’,” Gunther said, “unless we are actively, practically and concretely looking out for the welfare of all families, regardless of their wealth, religion, skin color, gender, race, health or sexual orientation.
“We must all strengthen and help maintain families across the state as the fundamental units of society.”
Belmont is a hydrologist in the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.
His work has advanced the understanding of how landscapes and rivers change over time and the implications of water quality, flood risk, water resource management and ecosystem health.
Belmont will face off against incumbent Rep. Dan Johnson in the Nov. 8 election.
Gunther of North Logan is a transplanted Utahn, having been raised in Chicago, and a newcomer to politics.
If elected to the Utah House of Representatives, Gunter promises to be anything but a partisan Democrat.
“Our government is based on participation from everybody,” Gunther said. “There’s a place — and even a necessity — for us all to come together in public, respectfully disagree and still get things done.”
Gunther will face off in the Nov. 8 election against whoever survives the race for the Republican nomination for Seat 2 — incumbent Rep. Mike Petersen or former representative Val Potter.
Jurena explained that Joshua Hardy is also in the running against Rep. Joel Ferry for the seat in State House 1, but that is a multi-county issue that will have to wait until the state convention.