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Emily Bergeson
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Emily Bergeson (United Utah Party) ran for election to the Utah State Senate to represent District 7. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Bergeson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Bergeson's professional experience includes working as a certified sign language interpreter. She earned an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in 2004.[1]
Bergeson has served as a county vice chair for the United Utah Party.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Utah State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Utah State Senate District 7
Mike McKell defeated Emily Bergeson in the general election for Utah State Senate District 7 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mike McKell (R) | 77.7 | 39,515 |
 | Emily Bergeson (United Utah Party)  | 22.3 | 11,351 | |
| Total votes: 50,866 | |||
| = 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 primary election
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Julie Fullmer (R)
Republican convention
Republican convention for Utah State Senate District 7
Mike McKell defeated Scott Neilson and Flor de Maria Sulbaran in the Republican convention for Utah State Senate District 7 on April 25, 2020.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Mike McKell (R) |
 | Scott Neilson (R) | |
 | Flor de Maria Sulbaran (R) | |
| ||||
| = 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
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released May 19, 2020 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Emily Bergeson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bergeson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am not your typical candidate. My hope is to help voters think outside of the candidate box. That said, I have a bachelor's degree in Business Management from Brigham Young University. I worked in the private sector for a number of years. I served as an economic volunteer with the United States Peace Corps to communities in Romania. I am an American Sign Language interpreter. I have spent a number of years living overseas. All of these experiences of seeing the world and serving my country has brought me to this point. I realize we all have amazing things to contribute in this world. Politics, however, has become a battleground with winners and losers, costs and casualties.
- We have to stop playing the same two-player game where someone wins and someone loses.
- Reform is sorely needed to help fix the system so that representatives can do their job and represent their constituents.
- We can find more well-rounded, practical solutions to our problems when we put aside political party and ideological differences.
We have so many laws already in government, wouldn't it be nice to do a little clean up? I am passionate about reform, simplifying the system, and normalizing the language so that the average voter can make sense of what is taking place in government. It has become a place of lawyers and scholars, with no real space for the everyday law-abiding citizen. If our government is to be designed by the people and for the people, I believe people should be able to understand it.
An elected official is a public servant. When elected, voters become my boss. It's my job to make sure I'm making decisions that are informed and in line with what they hope to achieve. Voters, however, need my help too. It's my job to inform them of legislation and to ask for input. It's my job to interpret difficult legal language so that voters understand how laws impact them.
I have worked 20 years helping people communicate. I have worked and lived overseas. I know that getting along can be difficult, but not impossible. I value differences of opinions. I love strategy and figuring out a way through challenges. All of these things I believe would make me an ideal legislator to help us through these unique times.
I remember starting a little company with my sister, a cleaning business and a bakery. I'll be honest, though, my sister did most of the cleaning and my mom did all the baking. I was mostly the marketing and sales. Seriously, though, rarely do we do it all ourselves. We each have unique and important support systems that help us realize our goals. It's the same in communities. We all have unique talents that we can use to contribute to the greater good. Government should be involved only as much as it can facilitate bringing people together. Many of the solutions to our problems could be found in coming together and valuing one another.
My life is like a continuous soundtrack, changing songs to fit the situation. Sometimes it's a song from the 50's that makes me smile, or a rock song that puts a bounce in my step. Sometimes it's a children's song that gives me courage and hope for the future.
I'm admittedly a little biased here, but from observation and in talking with current representatives, I find those with little or no government and political experience do a much better job representing their constituents. These representatives with little to no previous experience are more likely to be good learners and research issues and problems. They are also usually more open-minded and willing to listen to feedback and concerns from constituents.
Among several challenges, my state continues to face immense growth. The growth is because of our ideal work force skill set and location that has been attracting companies. It's fantastic to see such growth, but it also presents a number of challenges. We are experiencing housing shortages, which is driving housing prices out of the reach of most families. With the influx of workers, we are also experiencing growth in diversity. Our air quality continues to be a struggle. Education is still one of those issues that the majority of Utah voters seem to agree on, but that the legislature seems to have a different idea about the right way to handle it. And I don't even know what's going to happen with tax reform. Our tax structure is posing real problems. All of these issues will continue to make life difficult, especially as the legislature drifts farther and farther away from its constituents. If we can fix the system and put in the right measures to keep the legislature accountable, I believe we will find our way through these challenges and what ever other ones may come our way.
The state legislature is like the people of our state, different but equally important. I believe building relationships with fellow legislators is VITAL to successful policies. Laws are best written when a healthy mixture of thoughts and concerns are considered. Laws that aren't very good will be discarded as the support for such policies fizzle. Important laws regarding reform will only work if fellow legislators are convinced that such measures are needed to protect the liberty and fight corruption. I also keep in mind that each fellow legislator represents fellow voters, fellow residents who deserve to be heard and considered, every time.
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
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
Current members of the Utah State Senate
Leadership
Majority Leader:Kirk Cullimore
Minority Leader:Luz Escamilla
Senators
District 1
Scott Sandall (R)
District 2
Chris Wilson (R)
District 3
John Johnson (R)
District 4
Calvin Musselman (R)
District 5
Ann Millner (R)
District 6
Jerry Stevenson (R)
District 7
Stuart Adams (R)
District 8
Todd Weiler (R)
District 9
Jennifer Plumb (D)
District 10
Luz Escamilla (D)
District 11
Daniel Thatcher (F)
District 12
Karen Kwan (D)
District 13
Nate Blouin (D)
District 14
District 15
Kathleen Riebe (D)
District 16
Wayne Harper (R)
District 17
Lincoln Fillmore (R)
District 18
Dan McCay (R)
District 19
Kirk Cullimore (R)
District 20
Ronald Winterton (R)
District 21
Brady Brammer (R)
District 22
Heidi Balderree (R)
District 23
Keith Grover (R)
District 24
Keven Stratton (R)
District 25
Mike McKell (R)
District 26
David Hinkins (R)
District 27
Derrin Owens (R)
District 28
Evan Vickers (R)
District 29
Don Ipson (R)
Republican Party (22)
Democratic Party (6)
Forward Party (1)
