WHAT DAKOTA FIGHTS FOR
Dakota is focused on the issues that determine whether people can raise families in Utah for the long term. Putting real people over politics and rhetoric.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
I made 73 offers before buying my house. I know how difficult it is for young families to find their home. It’s especially difficult for families connected to Hill Air Force Base, who are often asked to move quickly into a housing market that isn’t built for them. Housing should be within reach for the people who work here. That means expanding housing options without shifting costs onto cities or families. We can get rid of red tape, ban the influence of big developers that jack up prices and buy up available homes, and prioritize affordable housing solutions for every community.
RESTORING THE GREAT SALT LAKE
After a record low year for our snow pack, now is not the time to take chances with our state's biggest landmark. Each year, the Utah Legislature has ignored the lake’s water needs over profit. As more and more of the lakebed is exposed to the surface, more toxic chemicals, like mercury, lead, and arsenic, are released into the atmosphere and into our lungs. This is more than a conservation crisis; it is a major public health crisis that will decide how livable Utah is over the next century. For all of us who want to breathe clean air, enjoy clear skies, and explore Utah’s wonderful public lands, we have a vested interest in keeping the Great Salt Lake Great.
FULLY FUND EDUCATION
Utah spends the second least amount of money per pupil in the United States. Miraculously, through the hard work of our teachers and education community, we come up with average test scores. If we invest in education a fraction as much as we do in tax breaks for data centers, we could have the brightest kids in the nation. Our students and teachers deserve public schools that are firing on all cylinders, and not held back by private school vouchers or underfunding of critical programs. Utah’s future is in our schools, and we need to invest in it to help it grow.
PROTECT PUBLIC LANDS
I spend my summers hiking the Wasatch Mountains and exploring Utah’s five amazing National Parks. We are lucky to live in the middle of an unspoiled public paradise. I oppose efforts by our current leaders in federal and state government to privatize this land and sell it to the highest bidder. This land belongs to all of us, not billionaires, oil barons, or developers.
SECURE LIVING WAGES
Inflation has soared over the past five years, and wages in Utah have not matched it. Our state used to be one of the most affordable states in the nation, and now many of our neighbors are being priced out to cheaper states. It’s time that wages matched costs in our states. That means raising the minimum wage and encouraging companies in Utah to provide competitive wages to their employees before we lose more of our middle class to Texas and Arizona.
REGULATE AI & BIG TECH
While AI can be helpful in expediting important processes in certain industries, its current widespread use is dangerous and irresponsible. It scares me that our kids can spend their school day talking to chatbots instead of their classmates. It’s heartbreaking to see so many people lose their well-paying jobs to cheap machines that can’t match them in quality. And Utah does not need another data center to power artificial intelligence to stand between you and a human representative over the phone, to give us misinformation online, and to push us slowly apart from each other and into our phones. We have the responsibility as a state to put guidelines and regulations on how AI can interact with us, and I look forward to tackling this in the legislature.