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- California Rep. Sara Jacobs addressed Utah residents, discussing economic issues like housing.
- Jacobs criticized the GOP's recent tax bill, warning of impacts on Medicaid and food stamps.
- She emphasized Democrats' focus on economic concerns and higher taxes for the wealthy.
SANDY — California Rep. Sara Jacobs spoke to a crowd of about 150 at a Sandy town hall Friday evening, making the case that Democrats need to adopt a message focused on economic issues such as housing affordability and child care.
Although Utah Republicans love to take swipes at liberal Californians, Jacobs, a Democrat, said concerns about cost of living cross party lines, and she said she visited the state to let Utahns know their worries are being heard in the halls of Congress.
"Showing up and answering tough questions and having conversations with our constituents is another really important part of our job," Jacobs told KSL.com before the town hall. "Our title is literally 'representative,' and so it's our job to represent people. We need to come and make sure that we're listening to everybody."
The town hall was held at the Salt Lake Community College Miller Campus in Sandy, within the boundaries of Utah Rep. Burgess Owens' 4th Congressional District. Democrats in attendance criticized Owens for a lack of public town halls this year and said the event was meant to let constituents in the area have their voices heard.
Jacobs, who represents parts of San Diego, California, in Congress, spoke out against the Republican tax and spending bill — which she called the "Big Ugly Bill" — that was signed into law last week. She noted that nearly 200,000 Utahns could lose access to Medicaid over the next decade and warned of cuts to food stamps that could impact people in the state.
"Actually, there is a better way, and we as Democrats want to listen," she said. "We do care, and we are showing up everywhere."
The Democratic National Committee has held similar town halls across the 50 states in recent months. Friday's town hall was the first one attended by Jacobs, who is the youngest member of House Democratic leadership. At 36, she said she resonates with Utah as the youngest state in the U.S. and pitched her vision for an "affirmative vision" of the Democratic Party going into elections next year and in 2028.
"To me, we need to laser focus on bringing down the cost of housing, bringing down the cost of child care, making sure that everyone can have the housing and child care that they need to be successful," Jacobs said. "And we can build trust by making sure that we do that and do that well and then to expand to other issues."
Like Utah, which faces a housing crunch, Jacobs said San Diegans are worried about the cost of living.
"Look, I've been here in Utah a day, but in that time, the things I've heard from folks here in Utah are that the cost of housing is too much, the cost of child care is too much, the cost of health care is too much," Jacobs said. "Those are the exact same three things I hear from my constituents in San Diego."
She argued that the policies Republicans have passed recently will fall hardest on many voters who supported the GOP.
"We need to welcome them in, and we need to show them actually that we understand the status quo wasn't working and that we actually have a plan to how to make their lives better," she said.
Jacobs is the granddaughter of Irwin M. Jacobs, the founder of semiconductor and software giant Qualcomm, and she leaned into her privilege when she called for higher taxes on wealthy Americans.
"We just need to actually tax the really, really, really rich people and be able to use those resources. And here I know this because I grew up in one of those families," she said to applause. "My grandfather founded a Fortune 500 company, so believe me when I say, there are plenty of resources to go around."
Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini spoke to what he sees as the Democratic Party's working class roots, saying the party has to "get back to the roots of that."
"We are the party of the working class," he said. "But we shouldn't be so focused on the little things like pronouns and things like that that don't matter to people or that alienate them and really show them that we care about the working people."
Utah Democrats and left-leaning groups have been active in pushing back against the Trump administration and its GOP allies through a series of protests against the Department of Government Efficiency, the "big, beautiful bill" and deportation raids. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, filled the Huntsman Center in April, and angry constituents have confronted Utah lawmakers during town halls.
New Utah Democratic Party Chairman Brian King said he would like to bring more national figures to speak in Utah in the future and is planning more town halls in the coming months, particularly in rural parts of the state thought to be more conservative.
"They should have an opportunity to come out, be invited to come out and let their elected officials — or people who are candidates for office — find out what's on their mind, and so that is a high priority of mine as chair of the party," he told reporters before the event.
Immigration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were another focus of the town hall, and Utah Rep. Grant Amjad Miller, D-Salt Lake City, spoke of being a "direct son of an immigrant" — his mother is Palestinian. His American roots on his paternal side go back to the American Revolutionary War, when an ancestor who immigrated from Prussia fought.
"My point being this: It does not matter if your American roots are new or if they are old," Miller said. "Unless you're Indigenous, those roots came from another place."
Jacobs, whose district is just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, said it's easier for politicians to "fearmonger" about immigration the further they are from the border.
"Those of us close to the border, we know how important the border is for our community. We know how important immigration is for our communities," she said. "We're literally talking about people who are just trying to make a living for their families, and the more we can highlight that, I think the more that we'll get public sentiment on our side, and we'll be able to push back on this, because we're already seeing the president's poll numbers change on immigration."
