By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo by Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Democrats from across Carbon County gathered at Helper’s Rio Theatre on Saturday, March 15, for the political parties’ annual convention. Current party chair Nathaniel Woodward announced he would be stepping down as chairman to focus on a 2026 bid for the U.S. Congressional seat currently held by Mike Kennedy.
A self-described “progressive liberal,” Woodward stated,” Name a piece of progressive legislation that has passed in the last 50 years. Jimmy Carter tried, and he got one-termed for it. Obamacare is the biggest capitalist thing I’ve seen in my life. We haven’t passed anything liberal in decades.” Woodward continued,” We need people to get in there that aren’t going to work well together. People that are going to get there and cause a little roughness.”
He added,” As I held my daughter for the first time and realized I didn’t want to buy a shotgun to protect her from the Johnson Boy, I wanted to burn down the system that allowed the Johnson Boy to get away with it.”
Born and raised in Carbon County, Woodward has become a staunch community advocate. His most recent endeavor was the passage of HB127, aka Ashley’s Law. “The best thing I’ve ever done because of my law degree had nothing to do with the courtroom experience. It happened last week at 9:40 p.m. when the Senate voted past Ashley’s law, and I got to see a mother feel that there was Justice in the world.”
Woodward holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Utah State University and a Juris Doctor from Willamette University. He has worked in the legal field for the past seven years, opening his own office in 2022. He aims to be a “country lawyer” here, working closely with the community and aiding in Carbon County’s growth.
During his address, Woodward spoke on education,” When it comes down to our education right now, all we saw with the legislature this year was job training, job training, job training, which is important. But I think we got too far. And I take the position that we shouldn’t have the word job training in high schools … We shouldn’t be setting up kids in school to think about money; we should send them to welding class because they’re interested in creating something.”
This is not the first time Woodward has run for a congressional seat. The first was in 2024 when he squared off against Republican incumbent Celeste Maloy in Utah’s second district. Woodward garnered 34% of the vote in this race but ultimately lost to Maloy by 84,120 votes.
Wanting to break the mold of a traditional congressional candidate, Woodward emphasized he would approach fundraising differently,” I won’t be fundraising through a Rolodex every day. I will be doing some, but I will not be doing it in the way people who do this for a career … I want to run a campaign where I do everything my way.”
To accomplish this, Woodward plans to mow lawns and shovel driveways to connect with his constituents; something which he did in his first campaign.
Currently Utah’s third congressional district comprises 11 counties including Carbon, Emery, Grand and a section of Salt Lake County. However, by the 2026 election this could change, as ongoing litigation claiming the current boundaries are gerrymandered is being decided in court. The deadline to change these boundaries is November 2025.
If elected, Woodward would be the first Democrat to represent Utah in Congress since Ben McAdams served from 2019 to 2021, representing Utah’s fourth congressional district.
“If you want to join me? I think we’ve got a good shot at this,” closed Woodward,” if you want to join me, let me know.”