Utah’s gubernatorial candidates clash over housing, energy and Amendment D in a heated debate

Gov. Spencer J. Cox, Republican Brian King and J. Robert Latham (left) met on September 11 in the Grand Theater at Salt Lake Community College, debating housing, energy and Amendment D.

This year’s election candidates gathered in downtown Salt Lake City to address some of the top issues facing Utahns today. The candidates argued among themselves over Utah’s rising housing costs, inflated energy prices and Amendment D.

When moderator Jason Perry asked the candidates how they would go about creating affordable housing across Utah, all three candidates identified it as an issue that should be prioritized, but each had a different solution to the problem.

“We have to build. That’s the only answer,” Cox said. “Unfortunately, over the last 15 years, we have stopped building starter homes – homes for less than $400,000 and homes for less than $300,000.”

According to Cox, this is a problem his administration is working with experts, cities, county commissioners and developers to solve. They plan to build 35,000 starter homes over the next five years. The king had a different opinion.

“One of the things we can do is provide a greater disincentive for people who don’t live in Utah not to purchase homes for speculation or investment purposes. They have no intention of living there,” King said. “In many cases, they simply want to sell them for speculation or rent them out at inflated rents. And that’s not good for Utahns. We must ensure that Utah’s housing stock is purchased and made available to Utahns.”

King acknowledged that the Legislature has done a commendable job, but said Utah needs more action and that the Legislature needs to step up its efforts. Latham had a different proposal, directing Utahns to the Free to Build program.

“I really encourage people interested in this issue to read the article freetobuild.org website. “I think it has some great market-oriented solutions that can make housing more affordable in Utah again,” Latham said. “And look, one of the problems with the Utah Legislature is that it’s made up of a lot of developers, and one way for developers to make money is by limiting supply. And when you reduce supply, you have a construction cartel that drives up the cost of housing for the housing consumer. But it’s definitely more profitable for the developer.”

When candidates were asked about energy management policies and how they would approach affordable and sustainable energy, each candidate supported the use of multiple energy sources, but to varying degrees.

“We have renewable energy in Utah. They are huge: solar, wind and hydropower,” King said. “And these are things that we neglect because we are not following where the market is leading us. Renewable energy is not the future. It’s the present knocking on our door and asking, “Why are you late?”

Latham considered himself a supporter of “all of the above” energies, including nuclear power. Cox agreed with Latham.

“Mr. Latham is absolutely right… We must have nuclear weapons. If you believe in decarbonization and lowering energy prices in our country, you must support nuclear energy,” said Governor Cox.

Salt Lake Community College student Cassidy Archuleta had the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates Amendment Dwhich concerns the power of the legislature to repeal and modify citizen voting initiatives. She asked the candidates whether they thought the Legislature should have this power.

Both King and Latham answered this question in the negative. However, Cox’s response was not final.

“It’s very important that we have the ability to ask people to put forward initiatives and referendums and to overturn the Legislature’s decisions,” Cox said. “Let me tell you, all the top states in this country are ranked. You have fewer initiatives, not more. Initiatives should be rare, but they are important. And we must maintain access to that power.”

On September 12, the Utah District Court decided that Amendment D would remain on the upcoming November 5 ballot to avoid the risk of missing election deadlines. However, the District Court decided that the votes would not be counted because the legislator’s placement of them there was unconstitutional. Utah Supreme Court upheld the decision September 25.

According to Lighthouse researchCox leads the polls with 47%, King with 27% and Latham with 7%.