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ST. GEORGE — U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy and Nathaniel Woodward sparred over their geographical ties to rural Utah, abortion and immigration during a civil — and at times, complimentary — debate at Utah Tech University on Monday evening.
Maloy, a Republican who has been in office for less than a year, said representing Utah's 2nd Congressional District has been "the honor and privilege of my lifetime," and promised to continue to try working in a bipartisan fashion in what is likely to be a very narrowly divided Congress.
Woodward, meanwhile, drew upon his childhood in Price to cast himself as a "normal guy," who is making his first major foray into politics.
"I don't know if I belong here, but I'm happy I am," the Democrat said in his opening statement.
The two opponents seemed to challenge one another's ties to southern and rural Utah, which make up a large part of the district. Maloy has appealed to rural voters during both her campaigns, but in response to a question about working in a narrow House majority or minority, Woodward tried to stand out as the more rural candidate.
"I think it's time for a rural person to be in Congress from Utah. ... If your town has an Applebee's, I have a hard time accepting you as rural," he said in a reference to Maloy's hometown of Cedar City.
Maloy countered in her closing statements, noting that she has spent much of her adult life living and working in Cedar City, Beaver and St. George — all within the district she's hoping to continue representing.
"I am the 2nd District," she said. "I just feel like I have to point out before this is over that the Applebee's in Cedar (City) is at least in the 2nd District."
"Carbon and Emery counties," which Woodward mentioned often throughout the 60-minute debate, "are not," she said.
Policy differences
Aside from trying to outdo one another when it comes to their rural Utah bona fides, Maloy and Woodward spent most of the debate in respectful dialogue. Asked how he would demonstrate more civility in politics, Woodward suggested running against Maloy.
"It was not a joke at all," he said when asked to clarify. "She is civil by definition."
That's not to say the pair didn't have their differences. On several key issues — including abortion, tariffs and immigration — they offered contrasting proposals.
Immigration
Woodward criticized Congress, saying it has "proven it is not capable of addressing this problem." He said the current immigration system is much more "complicated, intrusive and in the way" compared to previous eras in American history and called for a more welcoming approach.
"It's easy to get angry," he said. "It's lazy to get angry. It takes hard work to be empathetic. We should be welcoming people in and trying to help them establish themselves here, as our ancestors did."
Maloy believes the government must "get our border under control" before addressing more comprehensive immigration reforms.
"There is no immigration reform that's going to help solve the problem as long as our border is wide open," she said.
She supports the Secure the Border Act of 2023 which was passed by House Republicans and would impose limits on those seeking asylum and require employees to participate in E-Verify to confirm new hires' eligibility to work.
Abortion
The congresswoman described herself as "unapologetically pro-life" and said the U.S. Supreme Court was correct to overturn Roe v. Wade. But, she said she supports leaving the question of abortion to the states and did not call for a nationwide restriction.
"That is the right way for it to be done," Maloy said. "I support the states making that decision on a state-by-state basis."
Woodward said he will "always err on the side of individual choice" and said the question of abortion is a "woman's discussion that should be led by them.
"The idea that (my daughter) may be denied elective or even lifesaving treatment based on some guy looking like me's viewpoint is sickening to me," he said.
Tariffs
Maloy praised the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and said tariffs can be a useful tool when it comes to foreign policy.
"We are a free trade country," she said. "I want to see us have free trade, but we have actors on the world stage who are not playing by the rules."
Her opponent called former President Donald Trump's views on tariffs "immature and uninformed," and said companies are to blame for harming American workers by moving manufacturing overseas.
"They want to benefit from the cheap labor of elsewhere but not to pay any fair share here on their own," he said.
What's next?
Mail-in ballots for this and other races will be sent to active registered voters this week ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5.
Maloy narrowly survived a GOP primary over the summer as she looks to win her first full term in Congress. She won a special election last fall to replace her former boss, former Rep. Chris Stewart, and was thrust immediately back into her first reelection bid early this year.
Woodward joined the race much later in May when Democrats named him the nominee for Utah's 2nd Congressional District to replace Brian Adams, who won the nomination at the party's convention but withdrew following criticism from some in his party over his defense of some of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot participants.
