Jenny Wilson candidate for US Senate visits EC Progress

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

Jenny Wilson is a Democratic contender for the U.S. Senate seat representing Utah. The contest for the seat has increasingly come into focus with Sen. Orrin Hatch having announced his retirement. Wilson stopped by for a visit with the Emery County Progress on a recent trip to Emery County.
Wilson said, “I am on the Salt Lake County Council and we work with 17 different cities. I feel like the federal government is not responsive to the needs in our communities. I will officially file to run for the office of senator in March. I have been traveling through the state of Utah and I’ve enjoyed it very much. I worked for Cong. Bill Orton and was in this area quite a bit during the years of 1990-1996. I was also promoted to his chief of staff. As a young woman involved in Congress, I know how the federal government operates. I’m compelled to have our voice heard. I see a real path to victory. Polls have shown that Utahns are ready for a change. Sen. Hatch has worked well across party lines at times and I would continue to do that. He worked with Sen. Kennedy. I would work across party lines. I’ve done this on the county council. I would like to see more working together.
“I am sympathetic to the challenges of working families. They can’t afford insurance. I can’t imagine the stress families face that need medical care.
“I would like to see more women get involved in politics at the local level. More women need to be elected to office. Women need to be in leadership roles both in the private and public sector.
“My dad Ted Wilson ran against Orrin Hatch in 1982. He is a former mayor of Salt Lake City.
“I am a chairman of the opioid task force. I work to get things done. I make decisions that serve the taxpayer.
“One of my ancestors is Orson Pratt, he was head of a wagon train that first entered Salt Lake. On my mom’s side they settled in Fillmore and Northern Utah near the Logan area. They were farmers. I grew up in Salt Lake and worked in Washington. I graduated from East High and attended grad school at Harvard. I didn’t get married until I was in my thirties and we now have two children. I worked with Mitt Romney on the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics. I ran the volunteer program and helped create the infrastructure. This project lasted two and a half years.
“I know Washington and I know local government. People who live and work in the counties have a better perspective on what’s going on there. Rural Utah has unique needs. I can relate to those issues. I can work to get Washington to understand those needs. I know a Democrat hasn’t won in Utah for a long time, since Jim Matheson was there. Our needs were best served when Matheson was an advocate for us. The Democratic party is too coastal. I have empathy for those people in the mid-section of our country. They aren’t heard from enough. The Republican party is too scattered.
“I know how to get things done. I think Utah is ready for a different voice. The senate needs to get back to a place where they can work things out.
“The opioid crisis is a tough issue. We need to get more resources to our communities. The state needs to deliver on its JRI promises. People need treatment. Not jail, jail doesn’t solve the problem. Keeping our kids off drugs is a challenge to our rural communities.
“I have experience with budgets.
“There are too many special interests in Washington and it’s harmed us,” said Wilson.
Wilson is currently serving her second six-year term on the Salt Lake County Council, Wilson has worked with a Republican-dominated County Council, forging consensus on paid parental leave, criminal justice reform, and more. Wilson’s work for women has been lauded across the political spectrum in Utah, especially her pioneering work to enshrine domestic violence as a fundamental human rights issue.
Wilson has bridged urban and rural concerns across Utah, in her leadership roles with the Utah Association of Counties. She helped create the Jordan River Commission, bringing together many interests to preserve the river and develop trails.