Cheryl Butler

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Cheryl Butler

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Harvey Mudd College, 1982

Personal

Birthplace

Pasadena, Calif.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Senior engineering manager

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Cheryl Butler (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Utah House of Representatives to represent District 53. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Butler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Cheryl Butler was born in Pasadena, California. She obtained a bachelor's degree from Harvey Mudd College in 1982. Her professional experience includes working as a senior engineering manager. Butler is involved with Rotary International, Habitat for Humanity, the Society of Women Engineers, and the League of Women Voters.

Elections

2020

See also: Utah House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Utah House of Representatives District 53

Incumbent Kera Birkeland defeated Cheryl Butler in the general election for Utah House of Representatives District 53 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kera Birkeland (R)	63.6	15,142
		Cheryl Butler (D)	36.4	8,657

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 23,799
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Tal Adair (R)
• Logan Wilde (R)

Democratic convention

Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 53

Cheryl Butler advanced from the Democratic convention for Utah House of Representatives District 53 on April 25, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Cheryl Butler (D)

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican convention

Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 53

Incumbent Kera Birkeland advanced from the Republican convention for Utah House of Representatives District 53 on April 25, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Kera Birkeland (R)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Cheryl Butler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Butler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Cheryl Butler graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Harvey Mudd College and Business Economics from Claremont McKenna College. She retired in 2016 after working 34 years, as an engineer and senior manager for a major international energy company. She has been a featured speaker at global industry conferences and has published papers in multiple technical journals. For the last 15 years of her career, Butler lived and worked overseas in Nigeria, Venezuela, and Kazakhstan.

Butler has been putting her skills and experience to work in every community where she has lived. She has coached kids soccer teams, tutored and mentored students, started and led 4H clubs, and served on the school board. Butler currently serves on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity for Summit & Wasatch Counties, teaches ESL to recent immigrants, and spends time encouraging young people to pursue careers in STEM through the Society of Women Engineers. Butler is also serving as the Community Services Director for the Park City Sunrise Rotary club and is the Founder and Director of the Talem Foundation which funds sustainable development projects in countries around the world.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Public Service - Utahns deserve legislators that put the public first, and who implement the voters' decisions at the polls.
• Fiscal Responsibility - Now, more than ever, we need the best financial management of our state budget and resources, to maintain essential services and our low tax rates.
• Care & Compassion - All Utahns. especially our most vulnerable residents, deserve access to affordable, high quality healthcare, education and housing.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Representing Rural Utah - Rural Utahns should have a strong, passionate voice in the state legislature. Butler is committed to proactively communicating with our wide range of HD53 residents, bringing their voices to the legislature, reaching across the aisle to build bridges, and address our issues.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Elected officials must have honesty, integrity and rock solid family values. They should believe in equal rights for all our residents, and care and compassion for the most vulnerable.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was babysitting for family and then for friends and neighbors in our small, rural town. Although I only made 25 cents/hr per child, I saved every penny and used the money to buy fabric, By high school, I was sewing almost all of my own clothing. Through college, I built on that experience, running a part-time childcare group for a church, and using the money to pay for books and personal expenses.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

I recently put together some old tunes on a playlist for trail running and added The Ketchup Song (Aserejé). Its nonsensical chorus lyrics were stuck in my head for days.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

For most of my 34 yr career, I was a working mom and for a few years, I was a single working mom. The challenges of balancing home and full time work can be enormous, but also extremely fulfilling. Our family lived in 4 different continents, learning the languages and cultures along the way. It was a struggle, and a blessing as well.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Building relationships with other legislators, on both sides of the aisle, is essential to good governance. I have found throughout my career that the only way to establish a vision and achieve lasting progress, is to do so with a diverse team of people. This requires finding common ground and establishing a network of other legislators.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

The Utah voters have expressed their preference by voting for an independent redistricting committee. As a state legislator, I will fight to ensure that the voters' decision is upheld and implemented.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

A young mother in my county told the story of how difficult it is to create a stable environment for her children when they found themselves moving to a new apartment 7 times in 7 years. Finding affordable housing, and moving into her own house, stabilized their entire lives and allowed the kids to be in one school, with one pediatrician and dentist, with a routine they could count on every day for years in the future.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Utah House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Mike Schultz

Majority Leader:Casey Snider

Minority Leader:Angela Romero

Representatives

District 1

Thomas Peterson (R)

District 2

Mike Petersen (R)

District 3

Jason Thompson (R)

District 4

Tiara Auxier (R)

District 5

Casey Snider (R)

District 6

Matt Gwynn (R)

District 7

Ryan Wilcox (R)

District 8

Jason Kyle (R)

District 9

Jake Sawyer (R)

District 10

Jill Koford (R)

District 11

Katy Hall (R)

District 12

Mike Schultz (R)

District 13

Karen Peterson (R)

District 14

Karianne Lisonbee (R)

District 15

Ariel Defay (R)

District 16

Trevor Lee (R)

District 17

Stewart Barlow (R)

District 18

Paul Cutler (R)

District 19

Raymond Ward (R)

District 20

Melissa Ballard (R)

District 21

Sandra Hollins (D)

District 22

Jen Dailey-Provost (D)

District 23

Hoang Nguyen (D)

District 24

Grant Miller (D)

District 25

Angela Romero (D)

District 26

Matt MacPherson (R)

District 27

Anthony Loubet (R)

District 28

Nicholeen Peck (R)

District 29

Bridger Bolinder (R)

District 30

Jake Fitisemanu (D)

District 31

Verona Mauga (D)

District 32

Sahara Hayes (D)

District 33

Doug Owens (D)

District 34

Carol Moss (D)

District 35

Rosalba Dominguez (D)

District 36

Jim Dunnigan (R)

District 37

Ashlee Matthews (D)

District 38

Cheryl Acton (R)

District 39

Ken Ivory (R)

District 40

Andrew Stoddard (D)

District 41

Gay Lynn Bennion (D)

District 42

Clint Okerlund (R)

District 43

Steven Eliason (R)

District 44

Jordan Teuscher (R)

District 45

Tracy Miller (R)

District 46

Cal Roberts (R)

District 47

Mark Strong (R)

District 48

Doug Fiefia (R)

District 49

Candice Pierucci (R)

District 50

Stephanie Gricius (R)

District 51

Leah Hansen (R)

District 52

Cory Maloy (R)

District 53

Kay Christofferson (R)

District 54

Kristen Chevrier (R)

District 55

Jon Hawkins (R)

District 56

Val Peterson (R)

District 57

Nelson Abbott (R)

District 58

David Shallenberger (R)

District 59

Mike Kohler (R)

District 60

Tyler Clancy (R)

District 61

Lisa Shepherd (R)

District 62

Norman Thurston (R)

District 63

Stephen Whyte (R)

District 64

Jefferson Burton (R)

District 65

Doug Welton (R)

District 66

Troy Shelley (R)

District 67

Christine Watkins (R)

District 68

Scott Chew (R)

District 69

Logan Monson (R)

District 70

Carl Albrecht (R)

District 71

Rex Shipp (R)

District 72

Joseph Elison (R)

District 73

Colin Jack (R)

District 74

Neil Walter (R)

District 75

Walt Brooks (R)

Republican Party (61)

Democratic Party (14)