As the only Democrat elected to statewide office in Utah, many see Attorney General Jan Graham as the party's standard bearer. Now she wants to carry the standard another four years.
Graham announced this week she will seek re-election as Utah's attorney general in order to continue her crusade on behalf of victims, in particular victims of child abuse and domestic violence."The key issues of my heart are child abuse and violence within the family," she said. "It is what I care more about, what I
worry about, what I lose sleep over. And I intend to make a difference. It is central to me that we turn around violence in the family."
Graham has initiated much-publicized campaigns targeted at child abuse and domestic violence. Some 35,000 Utahns have participated in her Safe at Home program directed at domestic violence. Later this year she will unveil new campaigns directed at fraud of the elderly, abuse of the elderly and gang violence.
Graham won a tight election in 1992 by beating Republican Scott Burns by less than 1 percent. Burns filed Friday afternoon to again run against Graham.
Despite being a Democrat in a predominantly Republican state, Graham has won widespread bipartisan support. A recent poll conducted by Dan Jones and Associates indicated 64 percent of those questioned were favorably impressed or somewhat impressed by her job performance; only 13 percent were unfavorably impressed. Among registered voters, her approval rating is 71 percent.
"You look at the numbers and I have 2-to-1 support among conservatives, the same as among liberals," she said. "It goes to show that this office has prioritized those issues that all groups feel strongly about, and that politics has not been a factor."
Although it has taken time, Graham said the attorney general's office has slowly won over pessimistic legislators who doubted whether her office could adequately defend the state's controversial laws restricting abortions. Some detractors went so far as to propose a constitutional amendment that would make the attorney general an appointed position.
"This office now has good working relationships with both parties," she said, adding that her working relationship with Gov. Mike Leavitt, a Republican, has been spectacular. "We have developed a mutual trust and they see our integrity - that we are good people fighting for what we care about."
Graham, 46, was a newcomer to politics in 1992. She is married to Buzz Hunt and has two children, Elisabeth and William.
As the attorney general, Graham supervises 175 attorneys, one third of whom are involved in the prosecution of child abuse, enforcing child support orders and removing children from unsafe homes. The attorney general's office is the largest law firm in the state.
She said the office has beefed up its criminal prosecutions by twice what it was before. Additionally, the office's performance in capital homicide appeals and search and seizure cases has been upgraded.
Graham said she should be re-elected because of her "clear sense of purpose as to what I should be doing. I feel a spiritual sense of destiny as to why I am here, to do something about family violence," she said.