By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo courtesy of Cherise Udell
As the legal battle over Utah’s congressional map winds down, giving candidates an idea of which districts they’ll run in, they are beginning to announce their bids for Congress.
In Utah’s Third Congressional District, Dr. Kent Udell announced his bid for the Democratic nomination, aiming to flip a district that has been consistently red for over a decade.
Udell joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss his reason for running, his platform and what he aims to accomplish if elected.
“I’m retired. Professor Emeritus from both Berkeley and the University of Utah, and living in Castle Valley, it’s a beautiful place. But when I saw this new map for District Three, I thought this is my home. I live there. I understand the country. I understand the rivers. I understand the people. I looked at that, and I thought this is a place where I could make a difference,” explained Udell of his reason for running.
Holding experience not only in education, but in engineering and science, Udell discussed how the skills he developed over his career would benefit his constituents if elected: “One of the things about being an engineer and an engineering educator is that you. Are harnessed to the truth, you cannot say a lie. I cannot get in front of an engineering class and give a BS. I have to tell him the truth. My research has to be the truth. If I publish something that is fraudulent, I will leave my job.”
He continued,” Truth, it’s my currency. And so that’s one thing I could bring to it is truth. As an engineer, I solve problems, identify problems, and work with people to figure out the right solution. And then I work forward to push those solutions forward. I’m not a career politician. As you say, I’m not one of those people who create a problem and then promise I’m going to solve it.”
Moving to the focus of his campaign, Udell first spoke on energy, a field he feels very confident in,” Energy is absolutely essential for everybody’s life. We need it in our cars, in our heating systems, and to process our food. We need energy to get by. We’re humans, humans evolved by burning things, right? So we need to get energy to be able to survive. Having that source of energy that is inexpensive and reliable and sustainable is what I can bring to this conversation. I’ve worked in oil shale, which I don’t want to be a proponent of; although I am an expert, I am not a proponent. I understand petroleum engineering, I understand solar, I understand wind. I understand technically all of those different pieces that need to come together to be able to give us a comprehensive, reliable and sustainable energy system.”
Udell dove deeper,” Right now, what we’re seeing is that solar and wind are the cheapest. And we’re seeing companies building batteries, like Intermountain Electronics, one of the places that builds a lot of battery containers right here in Price. It’s that kind of technology, that kind of movement that I want to see, because that kind of development of those kinds of energy resources means jobs, means people working, means people that are maintaining them.”
Switching gears, Udell turned his attention to water,” It’s absolutely essential. Water is life, and it is essential for everyone to have a reliable, stable source of clean water, just as with energy. We need water, and we need food … Water is absolutely essential. And we have a crisis coming up. It’s already happening. We look at Lake Powell and see what’s happening there. You look at the future, you look at the snowpack, and you think we’re going to have a problem that’s going to need to be solved in the next few years. I feel like I can have a role in that.”
The candidate added,” I’m not somebody that’s going to be sitting on a water board. But as a congressman, I do have a voice, and I can express that voice for common sense to get to solutions that give us both the water that we need to be able to water our crops here and also to be cognizant of the water that we don’t use is going to feed the farms in California. We have to compromise to get the best economics for that water in this region.”
Another pertinent issue facing the residents of CD-3 is public lands and maintaining access to them. Udell spoke on his philosophy for the issue,” They are incredible. I don’t know of another place on Earth that has this variety of incredible terrain, formations, and water resources. And when I look at the map, I look at District Three, I thought this is my home, this is where I’m comfortable. My ancestors came from this area. You know, whether that’s Stuart Udell or Jacob Hamblin. I feel that deeply in my bones that this is land that needs to be protected and it needs to be preserved for future generations.”
Udell continued,” Not that we can’t use them productively at whatever that happens to be. And, you know, some logging in some areas, grazing in some areas. I’m not even against putting in gas wells or oil wells, but make sure that they are finished and that when the resource is used, that it’s left in as pristine condition as we possibly can.”
The last issue Udell spoke on was one that residents of the Castle Country feel particularly strong about: gun rights and gun safety. “My first firearm was given to me by my father at the age of 12 years, before he died. I’ve had guns pretty much all my life, a BB gun or pellet gun, and then a 410 shotgun. When I was 13, I earned a marksmanship rating from the NRA. We’d go into the basement of the armory and would learn gun safety. And marksmanship. And I think about that training that came from those interactions with the NRA and realize that is also deep in my bones, the idea that you never point a gun at anybody. And you never have a loaded gun. And if you have a load, if you have a gun given to you, you make sure that it’s unloaded. And that’s just the way that I learned how to deal with gun safety.”
“I think that is still something that needs to be pushed in terms of our gun laws. I would like to see somebody that goes in the first time gun owner, the first purchase, I would like to see them have a mandatory safety training and have somebody there that is really good at marksmanship, understands guns, understands safety and work through people that are buying those guns to make sure that they have that safety and get in their head that you do not point a gun at another human being. You do not walk around with a loaded gun.”
Udell also discussed assault weapons – namely the AR-15: “I’m toying around with what we do with assault weapons. They trouble me. You know, having a gun that is designed to kill people in the hands of people that might want to kill people, you know, as a mass shooting or something, that bothers me. I don’t think there’s a need for having those guns out there in public. But I would love to shoot one and take me to a gun range. And if a gun range owns it, I would love to take an AR-15 and shoot up some stuff. That would be so much fun. I get that. But I would not use that for a hunting gun. I would use a .30-06 with a scope if I’m going for deer. I would use a shotgun if I’m going for pheasant. I can’t see any need in my life for a hunter to have an AR-15. So, I would be open to that. Just quit selling them and let people use them in gun clubs and have fun shooting them.”
Despite many promises being made along the campaign trail, no one legislator can make change by themselves. Udell explained how he would go about accomplishing what he promises,” One of the things about coming out of academia is that I know how to write. So, I can write legislation. And I have the legal people on my staff make sure the legislation is tight. And I can promote that legislation through common sense and persuasion. That’s also what I do as an engineer and an educator: persuade people to see my side and move forward. I also have clear boundaries about what I would accept. And there will be places where I will dig in my heels, and I will say no, no matter what.”
Closing our conversation, Udell shared why he believes voters in CD-3 should give him their votes in the upcoming election cycle,” I think that people in CD3, and I’m getting a feeling that everybody in this country is really, really anxious. This is a tough time. We look at politics. We look at the corruption. We look at the corruption of our media feeds. We look at the corruption of the politicians getting all of this money from the health insurance companies, from the fossil fuel industry, and from the pharmaceuticals. And they are then working for those people, not for the people in this district. I don’t have those interests. I’m not going to be taking money from corporate interests. I’ll take money from locals, and I’ll take individual contributions. But my objective is to get elected to work for the people in this country. These are the people that I know. I love these people.”
He continued,” It’s going to take some time for them to trust me. But I want them to have a representative that they can trust, that is a straight shooter, that’s going to be honest with them, and is going to be working 100% on the issues that they need to have worked on. Affordability, climate issues, and water issues. You see the list of different items; there’s a lot of work to be done. And I’m not seeing the party that is in power doing anything about any of those issues. I think I can do something about them. That’s why I’m running.”
To learn more about Udell and his campaign, visit kentudell.com.
This article does not serve as an endorsement for the candidate featured. All candidates in the 2026 election cycle are entitled to one free interview. To schedule, email news@koal.net.