Here's where Utah's 3rd Congressional District candidates fall on affordability, data centers

ST. GEORGE — Two candidates for Utah's 3rd Congressional District shared their visions for combating high prices, regulating data centers and expanding energy production in a debate Friday.

Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, pointed to tax measures she helped approve as part of a spending bill last year as efforts to put more money back into the hands of taxpayers.

Her opponent, Democrat Kent Udell, blamed large corporations and billionaires for high prices and affordability woes.

The pair also grappled with other important issues, including public lands, energy development and taxes as they seek to represent Utah's largest congressional district.

Here's where each candidate stood on several key issues.

Taxes and affordability

Affordability ranks as voters' top concern heading into this year's midterm elections, according to a recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll, and moderator Bob Evans asked a series of questions out of the gate to address it.

"We feel that the system is rigged against us, that the money is coming from our pockets to the pockets of the large corporations and the billionaires," Udell said, when asked how he would address high prices if elected. "You can trace back to the affordability issue of that money going up and not coming back down to support the people that are doing the hard work in this district."

Maloy said she agreed "that Utahns should keep as much of their own money in their own pockets as possible."

"That's why I voted for making the tax cuts permanent from 2017," she said, referring to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. "It's why I voted to reduce taxes on tips, overtime, Social Security, to increase the child tax credit — all of these things are good for Utah's families."

She pointed to discretionary spending cuts when asked what she would do to address the national debt, and said she would not vote to undo the tax reductions on tips and overtime.

"I would not start with getting rid of tax cuts for Utah families," she said. "I don't know any rich people who work for tips or get paid overtime."

Udell blamed the One Big Beautiful Bill for adding to the national debt.

"The national debt has increased dramatically over the past two years and it is a result of the Big Beautiful Bill and the tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy," he said. "We need to have tax reform across the board. People on the top end — they need to pay their fair share."

AI and data centers

The debate was hosted at Utah Tech University in St. George. A student addressed a question to both candidates, expressing concern about future work opportunities given advancements in artificial intelligence and asking each what they would do about it. Neither candidate directly offered positive solutions, but said they were optimistic about how the technology can be used.

"I have faith in your generation that you're going to learn to use AI to harness the power of AI and turn that into family-sustaining jobs for yourselves into the future," Maloy said. "You might be doing less busy work because AI is doing some of that, but you're going to be the human intelligence behind the machines and you're going to have a bright and beautiful future in this country."

She encouraged the student not to believe "all the doom and gloom."

Udell agreed about the potential for the technology, but said there is still a role for humans to play.

"What it does not give you is wisdom, and I think what's going to be important for our next generation is ... what they learn and the wisdom that they are gaining from everyday experiences and failures and successes."

The candidates were also asked whether Congress should set federal standards around data center development, and both said those decisions should be left to local and state governments. Udell called for a moratorium on new data centers.

"I look at data centers and I see billionaires that are like playing Minecraft on how they're putting these things together," he said. "This is a slippery slope we're going on, and we know as Utahns if we hit a slippery slope, we pump the brakes."

Maloy didn't go as far as to call for a pause, but agreed that local governments should have more say.

"State and local governments are better suited to make these decisions based on the resources and the local needs than the federal government is," she said. "Sometimes one-size-fits-all doesn't actually fit anybody."

Energy production

When it comes to energy production, Udell spoke out against developing more nuclear power, while Maloy said the state's mix of energy should be based on what "the market is asking for."

"Right now, we produce a lot of oil and gas in Utah and those provide good family-sustaining jobs in rural Utah, and that's a beautiful thing," she said. "We're also on the razor's edge, on the tip of the spear, with geothermal energy."

Udell called nuclear power "the most expensive way that we produce power in this country." Building new nuclear reactors from scratch is expensive and time-consuming, but nuclear plants are "relatively cheap to run," according to Earth.org.

"We have better options," he said. "We have wind and we have solar. ... This is not a clear return on investment that has been shown for this country."

What's next?

Maloy and Udell qualified for Friday's debate by clearing the 10% polling threshold set by the Utah Debate Commission. Maloy earned nearly 45% support compared to Udell's 26% in a poll conducted by the commission.

Several other candidates did not qualify for the debate stage, including Constitution Party candidate Cassie Easley, Libertarian Michael Stoddard and a pair of independent candidates.

Ballots for this year's election will begin to hit mailboxes by mid-October. Election Day is Nov. 3.

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