As of this writing, we've had several candidates announce they will be running this year:  

Don Jarvis announced first that he would run again in House District 63.  Steve Clark is not running again, which creates essentially an open seat.  That levels the playing field since Don won't be running against an incumbent who has gone through an election in the district.  

Steve Baugh announced he was running again in House District 58.  Steve won 41 percent of the vote last year against Stephen Sandstrom.  Like Don, Steve will be working hard to win this year to retire Sandstrom so the issues of jobs and education that voters care about can be addressed by their representative.  That shouldn't be such a novel concept for a legislator to represent all of their constituents rather than just a small number of delegates from one party, but unfortunately it has been in Utah County.

Deon Turley also announced she is running again in House District 61.  She has learned alot from the experience and, like Don and Steve, will approach this campaign as a seasoned candidate who knows how to win.

Last Friday, Ted Barratt, former mayor of American Fork, announced his candidacy for the county commission in the rotunda of the County Courthouse.   Ted will be a wonderful candidate and county commissioner.  The whole county party will be working to get Ted elected so he can defeat Steve White and restore an attitude of cooperation and teamwork to the county commission and county government.

In addition, several more candidates will be announcing during the next two weeks.  These will include individuals who are well respected in the community and capable of serving our county well in their respective elective offices once they are elected.  They are willing to stand up and work hard to bring back good government to the county and the state.  

Democrats across the county will be pleased that so many good people have stepped forward to run and serve.  But many Republicans and unaffiliated voters will feel the same way.  They will be grateful that not only have we provided choice once again, but we've also once again offered better choices than the people who are in office now.

As these candidates announce in your area (or across the county), please step up yourself and help them out.  They've made the major sacrifice of being willing to be the standard bearer.  But they need an army of soldiers behind them willing to work hard to help them win.  It is not enough to cheer them on from the sidelines.  This fight is a fight all of us share.  Help your candidate in the ways you can - time, money, skills, etc.  Let's all work together to finish in November what these candidates are willing to start today.