- California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs will join Utah Democrats for a town hall.
- The event aims to energize Democrats and reach voters opposing President Donald Trump's administration.
- Utah Democrats criticize Utah Rep. Burgess Owens' lack of town halls.
SANDY — Still trying to chart a new path to electoral success in deep-red Utah, the state Democratic party is hosting a California congresswoman as part of the national party's efforts to hold town halls in Republican districts.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, who represents parts of San Diego and is the youngest member of House Democratic leadership, will speak alongside several Utah Democrats during a town hall in Sandy Friday evening. Democrats have criticized Utah GOP Rep. Burgess Owens, saying he has not held public town halls this year, and are holding Friday's event at the Salt Lake Community College Miller Campus, which is within Owens' district.
Owens' website does not list any town hall events this year, and a spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether he plans to hold one.
For new state party Chairman Brian King, the town hall is meant to energize Democratic voters who are in the minority in Utah and Washington while also reaching out to voters who are at odds with the second Trump administration.
"These town halls are for everyone," King said, adding that he invited former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes — now the host of a conservative-leaning radio program — to attend and hear them out. King said he had not received a response as of speaking with KSL.com on Tuesday.
"We as Democrats have got to get in front of audiences that in the past we have viewed as ... hostile to the stuff that we are promoting as Democrats," he added. "We shouldn't just be siloing ourselves in groups of people that already believe pretty much what we believe and think that we're accomplishing anything. And so I want to make sure this town hall stuff is part of reaching out, doing everything we can to address audiences that we ... may think of as not our automatic friends. We need to engage in more proselytizing."
Friday's town hall is sponsored in part by the Democratic National Committee, which has hosted similar efforts in red districts to mobilize Democrats in opposition to the second Trump administration. Sen Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, held a blockbuster rally in Salt Lake City in April, which drew an estimated 20,000 attendees.
King said he hopes the town hall on Friday will remind voters that Democrats are pushing back against Republicans in power and demonstrate his belief that Republicans in Congress have overestimated the mandate they received from voters last November. He thinks the administration has overstepped on immigration enforcement and expects a backlash against ICE raids and arrests in the midterms.
"People in Utah need to know Democrats are concerned. We're listening," he said. "We want to make sure that we represent their interests better than how their interests are being currently represented by Republicans."
The town hall begins at 6:15 p.m. on Friday. Jacobs will be joined by King, Utah House Minority Leader Angela Romero, Utah AFL-CIO President Jeff Worthington, Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini and Utah Democratic National Committeewoman Clare Collard.
