Local candidates on this election year’s ballot visited BYU to connect with students and share advice on becoming politically engaged, during the political campaign fair on Friday, Sept. 13.
Politicians representing Republicans, Democrats, third parties and independents came to BYU campus to share their platforms and connect with the student community. In one-on-one interviews, they encouraged students to become politically engaged and embrace political diversity in a unified call to action.
“I think that young people who are coming up are in a position to make a decisive change in the direction of our politics," Democratic Rep. Brian King said.
Gubernatorial Democrat candidate Rep. Brian King of the 23rd District and his running mate Rebekah Cummings said young voters are the ones who will inherit the current political landscape. They encouraged students to have a say in it.
“To all of our university campuses, this is a democracy, and we want our young people to take part in it. This is the state that you're going to inherit. This is the Great Salt Lake, the education system and the housing affordability crisis. All these things affect college students, and we want your voices to be heard,” Cummings said.
Michelle Quist, an independent running for Utah Attorney General, delivered a message to BYU students on college student engagement.
“They absolutely should vote. They live here. If they're a resident of Utah, they absolutely should vote," Quist said. "Legal issues affect them ... If you live in a civil society, then you need to be engaged in the political process to be part of that civil society, and that includes using your voice by voting.”
Caroline Gleich, a 38-year-old adventure athlete and activist, running as a Democratic candidate in the 2025 United States Senate race for Utah, challenged young people to consider what questions to ask when voting.
“As young people, we see a lot of these big issues facing the world, like the price of housing, unaffordability, air quality, plastic pollution, fast fashion — all of these different things that have a big impact," Gleich said. "My question is, how do you want to engage with the government? Do you want your only engagement to be when you pay taxes or get a speeding ticket? Or do you want to proactively come to the table to use government as a problem-solving tool? Because government can be a huge lever to create the kind of change you want to see in the world."
Gubernatorial Libertarian candidate J. Robert Latham made a point to speak on the values that he has seen from BYU alumni in his career that he felt need to be voiced in the Utah political landscape.
“I've been grateful. I'm a lawyer by profession, and a lot of the other lawyers I've worked with in my work, which is criminal defense mostly and family defense, who have come from BYU, have just been these very strong advocates for family integrity and individual rights and opposed to government overreach,” Latham said.
Many of these candidates represented different parties and political viewpoints, and spoke about the importance of diversity in Utah politics.
Republican Senator Micheal K. Mckell, who has represented BYU’s district, District 25, in the state senate, encouraged BYU students to participate to offer their unique perspectives.
“Diversity in participation enriches the political process. Engaging across different backgrounds and ideologies helps in creating balanced and well-rounded policies,” Mckell said.
King spoke about himself being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, maintaining integrity to be like the Savior, to be honest, wise and committed to public service. He said he would like to see the Church's culture influence this more politically.
“Reasonable people can disagree, but no political party is going to be completely aligned with where any one particular person is,” King said. “Just be more open to diversity and variety and political viewpoints, is what I'd like to see us — as an LDS church culture — do within the area of politics.”
For those interested in voting, see the official utah.gov voting page to register.
All local candidates running for office, despite party affiliation, were unified in saying that every student from BYU has a voice that should be heard.