Derek Kitchen

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Derek Kitchen
Candidate, U.S. House Utah District 1
Prior offices:
Utah State Senate District 2
Years in office: 2019 - 2023
Predecessor: Jim Dabakis (D)
Elections and appointments
Last election
June 28, 2022
Next election
June 23, 2026
Contact

Derek Kitchen (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Utah's 1st Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on June 23, 2026.[source]

Kitchen (Democratic Party) was a member of the Utah State Senate, representing District 2. He assumed office on January 1, 2019. He left office on January 1, 2023.

Committee assignments

2021-2022

Kitchen was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Kitchen was assigned to the following committees:


The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2026

See also: Utah's 1st Congressional District election, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on June 23, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Utah District 1

The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Utah District 1 on June 23, 2026.


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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Utah District 1

Stoney Fonua (R), Riley Owen (R), and David Robinson (R) are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Utah District 1 on June 23, 2026.


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Democratic convention

Democratic convention for U.S. House Utah District 1

The following candidates are running in the Democratic convention for U.S. House Utah District 1 on April 25, 2026.


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Republican convention

Republican convention for U.S. House Utah District 1

Stoney Fonua (R), Jonathan Lopez (R), Riley Owen (R), and David Robinson (R) are running in the Republican convention for U.S. House Utah District 1 on April 25, 2026.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Libertarian Party convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Utah District 1

Jesse West (L) is running in the Libertarian Party convention for U.S. House Utah District 1 on April 18, 2026.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Utah Forward Party convention

Utah Forward convention for U.S. House Utah District 1

January Walker (Utah Forward Party) is running in the Utah Forward Party convention for U.S. House Utah District 1 on April 11, 2026.

Candidate
Image of January Walker
January Walker

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2022

See also: Utah State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Utah State Senate District 9

Jennifer Plumb defeated Vance Hansen in the general election for Utah State Senate District 9 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jennifer Plumb
Jennifer Plumb (D)
 
99.4
 
32,817
Vance Hansen (Independent) (Write-in)
 
0.6
 
213

Total votes: 33,030
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Utah State Senate District 9

Jennifer Plumb defeated incumbent Derek Kitchen in the Democratic primary for Utah State Senate District 9 on June 28, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jennifer Plumb
Jennifer Plumb
 
50.4
 
4,383
Image of Derek Kitchen
Derek Kitchen Candidate Connection
 
49.6
 
4,322

Total votes: 8,705
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic convention

Democratic convention for Utah State Senate District 9

Jennifer Plumb and incumbent Derek Kitchen advanced from the Democratic convention for Utah State Senate District 9 on April 9, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jennifer Plumb
Jennifer Plumb (D)
 
59.8
 
70
Image of Derek Kitchen
Derek Kitchen (D) Candidate Connection
 
40.2
 
47

Total votes: 117
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Utah State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Utah State Senate District 2

Derek Kitchen defeated Chase Winder in the general election for Utah State Senate District 2 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Derek Kitchen
Derek Kitchen (D)
 
76.7
 
32,930
Chase Winder (R)
 
23.3
 
10,030
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.0
 
1

Total votes: 42,961
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Utah State Senate District 2

Derek Kitchen defeated Jennifer Plumb in the Democratic primary for Utah State Senate District 2 on June 26, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Derek Kitchen
Derek Kitchen
 
52.6
 
5,493
Image of Jennifer Plumb
Jennifer Plumb
 
47.4
 
4,943

Total votes: 10,436
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Derek Kitchen has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Derek Kitchen, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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2022

Candidate Connection

Derek Kitchen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kitchen's responses.

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Senator Derek Lloyd Kitchen has represented Salt Lake City in the Utah Senate since 2018, is the only queer person elected to Utah’s state government, and is the only millennial in the Utah Senate. Senator Kitchen serves on Judiciary & Criminal Justice, Education, and Workforce Services subcommittees.

In 2018, Kitchen announced his bid for Utah State Senate. On November 6, 2018, Kitchen won the 2018 election for Utah Senate District 2 and was elected to serve in the 2019-20 Utah Senate Minority Leadership as Senate Caucus Manager.

Before being elected to his role in the Senate, Senator Kitchen was a member of the Salt Lake City Council representing District 4 where he concurrently served as the Chair of the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Authority.

  • Representation matters. Senator Kitchen is the only millennial in the Senate and the only member of the LGBTQ+ community in the entire Utah legislature.
  • Holding power accountable. Utah has a republican supermajority in both the State House & State Senate. Senator Kitchen is a leader that defends the people that live in Utah’s largest city. Fight for balance/transparency. Fight for the people who live and work in Salt Lake City
  • Senator Kitchen knows what it's like to work in a restaurant. He knows what it's like to have student debt. He knows what it's like to try rent in slc. He doesn't give up on people, and when he sees an injustice he stands up and says something even if it won’t make him popular.
Housing is the number one issue that Senator Kitchen has worked on. He is also focused on environmental issues relating to air-quality and water conservation, including saving the Great Salt Lake. And finally, Senator Kitchen believes in transparency and accountability in government. He is a leader in the democratic minority party and is not afraid to stand up to corruption and challenge the status quo.

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.


Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Derek Kitchen campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2026* U.S. House Utah District 1Candidacy Declared primary$32,326 $1,690
2022Utah State Senate District 9Lost primary$207,699 $-162,678
2018Utah State Senate District 2Won general$69,969 N/A**
Grand total$309,994 $-160,988
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards, State legislative scorecards in Utah

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Utah State Legislature in 2022.

  • Americans for Prosperity - ArizonaLegislators are scored on their stances on conservative fiscal policy.
  • Libertas InstituteLegislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
  • National Federation of Independent BusinessLegislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
  • Utah Education AssociationLegislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to education.
  • Utah GrassRootsLegislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
  • Utah Taxpayers AssociationLegislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Utah State Legislature in 2021.

  • Libertas InstituteLegislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
  • The American Conservative UnionLegislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
  • Utah Education AssociationLegislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to education.
  • Utah GrassRootsLegislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
  • Utah Taxpayers AssociationLegislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Utah State Legislature in 2020.

  • Libertas InstituteLegislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
  • National Federation of Independent BusinessLegislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
  • The American Conservative UnionLegislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
  • Utah GrassRootsLegislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
  • Utah Taxpayers AssociationLegislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Utah State Legislature in 2019.

  • Alliance for a Better UtahLegislators are scored on their votes on bills the Alliance for a Better Utah supported.
  • Americans for Prosperity - UtahLegislators are scored based on their votes on economic issues.
  • Libertas InstituteLegislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
  • Sierra Club UtahLegislators are scored based on their votes relating to environmental and conservation issues.
  • The American Conservative UnionLegislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
  • Utah Education AssociationLegislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to education.
  • Utah GrassRootsLegislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
  • Utah Taxpayers AssociationLegislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.

See also


External links

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by
Jim Dabakis (D)
Utah State Senate District 2
2019-2023
Succeeded by
-


Senators
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
Republican Party (6)