Brad Daw, CANDIDATE, Utah 3rd congressional district

Utah’s 3rd Congressional District special election is attracting attention from the entire country after Congressman Jason Chaffetz surprised everyone when he announced he wouldn’t be seeking re-election and be stepping down, June 30, before his term ended.

One of the Republican candidates in the mix is current Utah State Representative of Orem, Brad Daw. You might ask yourself, who is Brad Daw? During an exclusive dotVote interview with the legislator he said, “first and foremost; I’m a husband and a father.”

Daw added, “It’s always been my feeling that if we want to keep this country free, each one of us must stand up for what we believe and actively participate in making it free.”

Brad was intrigued by the political world when he saw his first presidential debate on television at age 9. He shared that he remembers watching both conventions back in 1972 and not understanding the issues, but he was fascinated by the process of how it would be determined there as to who the next president of the Country would be.

Although the interest in politics was always there, Brad didn’t always pursue a career in politics. He had moved to California to get his first set of jobs, but when Bill Clinton’s administration took over, he moved back to Utah, the place he felt he could still help stay conservative and on the right path. That is when he made his biggest move, without knowing it, by attending a neighborhood caucus, he says, “I saw a notice so I went. I had no idea what it was, I knew nothing about Utah politics, but if I then I knew I better go and see what it’s about.”

Since that first caucus meeting, Daw was asked to stay involved by his community, and from the start he says he had the support of his wife. Then came the 2012 elections. Daw shared the pay day lenders began a campaign against him that year because of legislation disagreements, which broke his family down and Brad confirmed it left them wounded. Yet,when the 2014 elections came along, his family knew he had the duty to run and help his community, which led him to win back the legislative seat to represent the city of Orem.

Now running for the 3rd District he’ll have to continue dealing with what makes him tick most….”phony people, people who say one thing when you know they mean the total opposite. It really bothers me, and it’s hard because in politics we see way too much of that”.

Luckily, Brad continues with his main support system, his family. “Now, of course I talked to them. And in talking with my wife we realized we are almost empty nesters with one kid at home; that gives us a lot of flexibility so that I give him the dad time he deserves, and I also have the time in D.C. to step up and serve.”

By Hillary Koellner and Clark Caras