On Dec. 4, Utah Rep. Brian King announced his campaign for governor for the 2024 election.
King is a Democrat who first ran for the Utah House of Representatives in 2008. He represented House District 28 until redistricting was done after the 2020 Census. He now represents House District 23.
King grew up in the Cottonwood Heights area. He attended the University of Utah for both his undergraduate and law school. He has been practicing law ever since and has had his own firm for the last 20 years.
During his time in the state legislature, King served as the House Minority Leader for eight years. As a representative, he has led bills about issues such as gun violence prevention and domestic violence prevention. King has also fought against a variety of bills including ones to ban or restrict access to abortions in the state.
“I've been privileged, and I've been proud to advocate very aggressively against some terrible legislation in Utah,” King said.
Some issues King plans on to focus on as a part of his platform in this campaign are reproductive rights, education and income tax restrictions.
King added that if he is elected governor he will be willing to stand up to those in the state legislature.
As a part of his campaign, King also wants to highlight the diverse voices around the state and focus on people and issues that he said have previously been ignored by the state government.
“The prospect of running for governor is something that I like because it makes me feel that I have a greater opportunity to continue to highlight issues that Utahns care about, and that I think, quite honestly, are being ignored or being put on the back burner too often, because we don't have as good a diversity of political opinion and policies across the state as I would like,” King said.
Two other candidates have announced their plans to run for governor in 2024, both Republican. Current Gov. Spencer Cox announced his plans to run for a reelection a few months ago, and State Rep. Phil Lyman, who represents House District 69 is also planning to run.
According to a notice of election from the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s office, the declaration of candidacy filing period begins January 2, 2024.
