Cache County voters in Utah House District 3 will soon choose who will represent them in the Utah Legislature.
As the November election approaches, incumbent Republican Jason Thompson is seeking another term. He’s facing Democratic challenger Patrick Belmont.
Thompson was first elected to his seat in 2024, with a campaign focused on government accountability, economic support, and local community issues. This year, he expanded his platform.
“Some of the biggest issues that I'm concerned about are, No. 1, education; No. 2, affordability; No. 3, having civility in politics … and in addition to that, government structure,” Thompson said.
Belmont, on the other hand, has run to represent House District 3 in the past two elections. He narrowly lost to Thompson in 2024, receiving about 46% of the vote.
This time around, the Utah State University professor says his campaign is focused on environmental resource conservation, education, government accountability, and housing affordability.
“I'm a water scientist, a climate scientist, energy expert, educator," Belmont said. "So those are all issues that I've been working in for 20-plus years”
Earlier this month, Belmont released a statement condemning proposed data center construction in Cache Valley.
"We have to be asking ourselves broader questions about what are we really trying to do with all of this data and AI infrastructure?" he said. "How are we going to put the right guardrails around it to make sure that it's improving people's lives and it isn't just more extractive and exploitative?”
Thompson said he sees both sides of the discussion.
“If I'm really candid and blunt … I get frustrated with both sides of the issue," Thompson said. "Where we all need to be on this issue is right in the middle, asking a boatload of questions. … So that's what I'm working to do, I'm working to get answers to really important questions. How is it going to affect the environment? … How does it impact the communities that surround it?”
As Utah continues to grapple with high home prices and limited supply, housing affordability has remained a key issue for many voters. Thompson and Belmont are approaching that issue in different ways.
Thompson touted a bill he sponsored this year that required the state to conduct a study on how college populations affect homeownership in surrounding communities.
“I think that we're going to get some answers in the data that are very informing to us on attacking our housing crisis from a different angle," Thompson said.
Belmont’s vision, on the other hand, begins with change on a larger scale.
“I really want to see us building much more community resilience within Utah," Belmont said. "Changing our zoning codes so that we can have a lot more walkable and bikeable areas, a lot more community, places where people can congregate rather than having to, you know, be constantly driving across town. … And having a wider range of housing available is a key part of that.”
Despite their differences, both candidates expressed a desire to work better across the aisle.
“I'm really, really disheartened … when we look at our neighbors and we maybe impugn them because we think that, ‘oh, maybe they support this person or that person,'" Thompson said. "We've gotten to a point where we don't even talk to each other anymore, and I don't like that.”
Belmont said something similar.
“We cannot solve problems if we cannot talk to each other," he said, "and so I really want to get people back to a place where we're talking about issues, we're going deep on issues, really deeply understanding them before we're making decisions about them.”
Ballots will be mailed out beginning Oct. 13. And election day is November 3rd.
