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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah National Guard captain and self-described “political outsider” has entered the field of candidates to represent Utah’s 4th Congressional District.
Chris Biesinger, a family nurse practitioner from Spanish Fork, announced his candidacy Tuesday. He is one of a handful of Republicans challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, the only Democrat in Utah’s congressional delegation.
Biesinger was not available for an interview on Tuesday, according to his campaign’s media spokesman, but released a statement outlining his priorities.
“In a race full of candidates who have decades of experience playing the political game, I believe it’s essential we have an authentic outsider to offer a fresh perspective and give voters a choice,” Biesinger said in the statement.
Other candidates who have filed with the Federal Election Commission include Utah Senate Majority Whip Dan Hemmert; Kathleen Anderson, a former Davis County GOP official who served as the Utah GOP communications director; state Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan; and former KSL Newsradio host Jay Mcfarland. Biesinger had not yet filed as of Tuesday evening.
Former U.S. Rep Mia Love, the Republican who held the seat for two terms before she was ousted by McAdams last year, has said she is prepared to run again if no candidates who she believes can win enter the race. Love said last month that she thought Hemmert would “have a great chance at taking that seat back,” but that she had not yet made a final decision about whether to run.
“I may be new to the political game, but I’m no stranger to hard work,” Biesinger said Tuesday. “Some in this race may out politick me, but they will not outwork me.”
Related:
Utah Sen. Dan Hemmert announces run for Congress
Utah Senate Majority Whip Dan Hemmert announced he’s running for Congress in the 4th District.Biesinger vowed in his statement to “advocate for the dignity and protection of all human life,” clarifying that human life includes not only “the unborn, but our elderly and disabled, victims of opioid abuse, those who fall between the cracks of the system, and all other vulnerable folks in our state.”
Other priorities include defending the Second Amendment, “restoring faith in government,” and “fueling our economy,” according to Biesinger’s campaign website.
“I will work with our president and anyone who wants to fuel our economy by keeping government limited, and out of the way, so our businesses can create good‐paying jobs for Utahns,” Biesinger said Tuesday.
Biesinger serves as a combat medic in the Utah National Guard and as a flight surgeon attached to the United States Special Forces and Special Operations Command, according to his campaign website.
He is a graduate of the University of Utah where he earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1997, and of Brigham Young University’s Family Nurse Practitioner program. He has since worked as a nurse practitioner for the Revere Health Gastroenterology Department.
Biesinger said in his statement that he plans to be “out on the campaign trail soon talking to the regular folks and business owners in this district” about local issues and “how we can fix the problems and lack of civility in Washington to help heal our nation.”
