SALT LAKE CITY – The Young Democrats of Utah are challenging all the members of the state’s delegation in the U.S. House to hold public town hall meetings in their respective home districts.
All, this is, except one – U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Dist. 1).
“The residents of Utah congressional districts deserve direct engagement with their elected representatives,” according to Emma Fetzer, the president of the Young Democrats of Utah (YDU).
Fetzer argues that the Utah members of its House delegation owe their constituents an explanation for their recent voting records, especially their stance on the treatment of federal employees who are reportedly being dismissed without due process by the Trump administration.
After passing a stop-gap funding measure by a 217 to 213 vote along partisan party lines on March 11, the U.S. House went into recess until March 22. While embattled Democrats huddled in a political retreat in Virginia, GOP representatives headed for their home districts, making them targets for the Young Democrats here in Utah.
Founded in 2023, the Young Democrats of Utah is the official youth caucus of the Utah Democratic Party and a chartered chapter of the Young Democrats of America. With membership open to any Utahn under the age of 36, the organization averages more than 3,000 likes on Facebook.
Although Moore earned a passing mention in the YDU’s challenge, the caucus activists couldn’t come up with specific criticism to level at the three-term congressman.
Moore is well-known for staying in touch with his 1st District constituents. His most recent communication efforts included an in-person town hall on Jan. 30 in Davis County and a district-wide telephone town hall on Feb. 19.
But the YDU felt free to unload on the other members of the Utah’s House delegation.
“Since taking office,” they charged, “Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Dist. 2) has ignored nearly one-third of her constituents by failing to hold even a single in-person town hall in Salt Lake County.”
Maloy joined Congress in November of 2023, following a special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, and was re-elected by a slim margin in 2024.
Maloy’s 2nd District includes the western portion of Salt Lake County as well as largely rural counties in the western and southern portions of the state, making it the least Republican district in Utah.
The YDU also leveled specific criticism at U.S. Representatives Burgess Owens (R-Dist. 3) and Mike Kennedy (R-Dist. 4), saying that “Owens hasn’t held an in-person town hall anywhere in his district for years, while Kennedy has completely avoided all in-person town halls with the very voters who elected him.”
“Town halls would provide crucial opportunities for Utah’s congressional delegation to address their constituents’ concerns directly with the people who elected them,” Fetzer emphasizes.
Chief among those concerns, she adds, is Utah representatives’ support for legislation that would cut billions from veterans’ healthcare programs.
Back in Washington, Democrats in the U.S. Senate blinked rather than being saddled with responsibility for a partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government.
Faced with that threat by the Trump administration, ten Senate Democrats broke with their party to vote with Republicans to pass the aforementioned six-month funding measure from the House, averting a potential government shutdown with just hours to spare.
President Donald Trump signed the stop-gap funding bill on March 15.