Rep. Blake Moore of Utah’s 1st Congressional District defended his record on federal spending in a general election debate Tuesday night, facing off against two other self-identified fiscal conservatives.
Moore argued the Republican Party’s narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives put the brakes on the ballooning discretionary budget under President Joe Biden and listed legislation he had sponsored with the aim of improving the economy for businesses.
Democratic candidate Bill Campbell accused Moore of missing funding opportunities to put America first during his second term in office, while Libertarian candidate Daniel Cottam framed himself as the principled alternative to an ineffective two-party system that continues to grow the size of government regardless of who is in the majority.
The 60-minute debate was hosted by the Utah Debate Commission at Utah State University’s Eccles Conference Center and was moderated by Natalie Gochnour, director of the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
Blake Moore: Rising Republican leader
In less than four years, Moore has risen to the top levels of House leadership. In November, Moore was elected as vice chair of the House Republican Conference — the seventh-highest ranking position in the House GOP, tasked with coordinating party messaging.
The congressman, whose district includes the northeast corner of Salt Lake Valley, northern Davis Country and all of northern Utah, has also secured positions on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax policy, and the Budget Committee.
“We cut spending from the appropriations budget for the first time in over a decade,” Moore said. “We need to build on that momentum. And I want to be a part of that.”
Moore touted the debt ceiling agreement negotiated by GOP leadership last summer as an example of bipartisan legislation that put a cap on spending.
In response to his opponents’ criticism, Moore said he has kept his promise of trying to “reverse Washington’s debt culture” by introducing a bipartisan bill that would force lawmakers to vote on automatically renewing federal spending, like Social Security and Medicare, which comprise the vast majority of the annual budget and are the main drivers of federal debt.
Moore also brought up his membership in the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum, and several sponsored bills, including one that would create a bipartisan fiscal commission to study debt solutions, and others that would remove regulatory barriers for rural housing and encourage the development of affordable housing near military bases.
But Moore’s attempt to highlight policy wins in a historically dysfunctional Congress gave his opponents an opportunity to pin blame on the congressman for what they saw as a frustrating lack of action on key issues.
Bill Campbell: Trump-voting Democrat
The main attack from Moore’s opponents, both former Republicans, was that Moore, a former management consultant, had not gone far enough to change how America’s Capitol works.
Campbell, a certified public accountant and the former chief financial officer of Autoliv in northern Utah, said Moore had failed to stand up to party leadership to make bigger changes to Congress’ spending habits. Moore has consistently voted with party leadership to fund the government through various budget battles in recent months.
“The debt culture really hasn’t been reversed. The debt’s been increasing,” Campbell said. “We need leaders that are willing to take the difficult decisions.”
Campbell challenged Moore as a Republican in the 2022 GOP primary but was eliminated at the convention. During the debate, Campbell, who voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, broke with the Democratic Party on a number of issues.
Campbell, who has changed his party affiliation to Democrat, framed his campaign as one focused on “family, faith and freedom.” He took the position that money allocated for military aid to Ukraine would be better spent on border security and said he supported Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy
Daniel Cottam: Change requires disrupting the ‘duopoly’
Cottam broke from his colleagues on the border, saying the emphasis should be on increasing work visa pathways for immigrants, not on stopping border crossings. But he took an even firmer stance on federal spending and the role of the federal government.
Cottam, a nationally recognized bariatric surgeon who helped pioneer new weight loss procedures, said at different times he had voted as a Republican and as a Democrat, but at age 50 he registered as a libertarian because it aligned more closely with his belief system.
“People have prioritized their conveniences over liberty, and spending over restraint, on both sides of the aisle,” Cottam said. “The Libertarians are the only ones with a consistent message that will deliver prosperity for Americans.”
Cottam, like Campbell, praised Moore for being an honorable representative, but he expressed doubt that Moore, as a member of GOP leadership, could “be an independent voice” when his own party chooses to spend irresponsibly.
Cottam described many of Moore’s and Campbell’s solutions as “fairy tales.” The Republican and Democratic “duopoly” has failed to reform the fundamental problems underlying the country’s spiraling debt crisis, he said.
“We’ve had two of the same parties for as long as we can remember,” Cottam said. “Why am I standing up here on the stage today? It’s because they’re broken.”
General election timeline
Moore will face Campbell and Cottam in the General Election on Nov. 5. Mail-in ballots will be sent to voters beginning next week. The three candidates qualified for the debate by polling within the margin of error of a 10% threshold.
Moore entered office in January of 2021 after narrowly winning a four-way Republican primary by less than 3,000 votes. In his first reelection test, Moore lost in the state convention by 20 percentage points before going on to win in the primary by nearly 30 percentage points.
This year Moore lost in convention by 10 percentage points before going on to win by 42 percentage points in the primary. He beat his Democratic challengers in 2020 and 2022 by nearly 40 percentage points.