Mary Burkett

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

Mary Burkett

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last convention

April 25, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of Utah, 1985

Personal

Birthplace

Bridgeton, N.J.

Religion

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Mary Burkett (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Utah's 2nd Congressional District. She lost in the Republican convention on April 25, 2020.

Burkett completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Burkett ran unsuccessfully for the same seat in 2018. Burkett was eliminated at the party convention on April 21, 2018.

Elections

2020

See also: Utah's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Utah District 2

Incumbent Chris Stewart defeated Kael Weston and J. Robert Latham in the general election for U.S. House Utah District 2 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Stewart (R)	59.0	208,997
		Kael Weston (D)	36.6	129,762
		J. Robert Latham (L)	4.4	15,465

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 354,224
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joseph Jarvis (Independent)

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ashley Jolin (D)

Democratic convention

Democratic convention for U.S. House Utah District 2

Kael Weston defeated Randy Hopkins and Larry Livingston in the Democratic convention for U.S. House Utah District 2 on April 25, 2020.

		Candidate
		Randy Hopkins (D)
	Submit photo	Larry Livingston (D)
✔		Kael Weston (D)

---

	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 U.S. House Utah District 2

Incumbent Chris Stewart defeated Mary Burkett, Ty Jensen, and Carson Jorgensen in the Republican convention for U.S. House Utah District 2 on April 25, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Chris Stewart (R)
		Mary Burkett (R)
		Ty Jensen (R)
		Carson Jorgensen (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.

2018

See also: Utah's 2nd Congressional District election, 2018

General election

Incumbent Chris Stewart defeated Shireen Ghorbani and Jeffrey Whipple in the general election for U.S. House Utah District 2 on November 6, 2018.

General election

General election for U.S. House Utah District 2

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Stewart (R)	56.1	151,489
		Shireen Ghorbani (D)	38.9	105,051
	Submit photo	Jeffrey Whipple (L)	5.0	13,504

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 270,044
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jan Garbett (Independent)

Democratic primary election

The Utah Democratic Party held a nominating convention on April 28, 2018. Shireen Ghorbani was selected as the Democratic nominee for U.S. House Utah District 2.

Republican primary election

The Utah Republican Party held a nominating convention on April 21, 2018. Incumbent Chris Stewart was selected as the Republican nominee for U.S. House Utah District 2.

2012

See also: Utah House of Representatives elections, 2012

Burkett ran in the 2012 election for Utah House of Representatives District 62. She was defeated by Austin Anderson, Michael Lee Heaton, and Jon Stanard in the Republican convention.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mary Burkett completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Burkett's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Wife, mother, grandmother, conservative activist, former business owner.

When I was a single mother of six, I started and finished a Bachelor's degree in less than three years and worked my way out of poverty.

In July of 2019, 132 brave Republicans voted AGAINST adding $2T to the federal debt. On behalf of my grandchildren and your grandchildren, had I been in Congress, I would have been #133 and I would have found 134, together, we would have found 135 and so forth. We cannot keep selling our grandchildrens' future!

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?

• End federal government over spending
• Abortion is the 21st century holocaust
• Reform legal immigration, including completing the wall on our southern border.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Budget and Debt, Abortion, LEGAL immigration

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Harry Truman was the last regular American to be President of the United States. I do not agree with many of the things he supported like federal-government-provided universal health care, he was a straight shooter, said what needed to be said and was fearless.

Gerald Ford comes close but he spent much of his life in politics. Truman's experience is more broad in the real world.

Also, Truman won a term of his own. He did it by sheer will and grit. We need grit in today's Congress. It just does not exist on the conservative side of the equation.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The Law by Bastiat, The to Serfdom by Hayak, Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman, anything written by Mike Lee, Night by Elie Weisel, Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl, The Last Lion by William Manchester, nearly every film by Frank Capra.

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

The top three are:

1. Fearless
2. Fearless
3. Fearless

We need more members of Congress who are willing to remember who they serve and as a result, they will be fearless in action and in word.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Courage, grit, determination and focus.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

1. Uphold the constitution

2. Be aware of every penny of tax money spent.
3. Remember that you are a servant

4. Tell the truth to constituents even when you know they won't like it.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want my grandchildren to know that I tried to preserve their liberty by getting into the arena, that I left it all on the field and that they are my greatest inspiration.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The Kennedy assassination is a memory from elementary school but the first truly impactful event was the Challenger explosion because I was working in the aerospace industry at the time.

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

Like millions of Americans, I flipped burgers for a year.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Scriptures. Reading them reinforces who I am, where I fit in the grand scheme of things, reminds me the importance of love as a motivation.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

J. Thomas Whitmore, Independence Day. Total badass.
Scarlett O'Hara. That b__ch got stuff done! NOTE: DO NOT agree with her methods.

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

Theme from Bridge on the River Kwai

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

Not only did I earn a Bachelor's Degree in just over two years, January 1983 -- August 1985, I did it as the single mother of six children, ages 2-12.
Would not want to relive that experience but would not trade it for anything either. It brought out many qualities I didn't know I had previously.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

They have greater opportunity for collaborative work that responds directly to the American people. That is, if they want to do that. Today, we are so busy being partisan that principles no longer matter. Don't get me wrong. There are three issues on which I will not compromise (we cannot afford to add even one cent to the federal budget, nonprofits do not need federal help and we must reform LEGAL immigration). The land issue, and others, is ripe for compromise.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Depends on the person. My experience is in the state and county Republican party. It has prepared me for the political climate and shown me the hard work that it takes to accomplish important things.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Federal government spending. The nearly $24T in federal debt makes us vulnerable on many levels. I think our Founders are probably rolling in their graves over this issue. It does not matter what progress we make in other areas, if we cannot get the budget under control, we are leaving ourselves open to disaster as a result of the slightest hiccup in world markets or mother nature,

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Budget, Interior, Small business, Ways & Means, Oversight & Government Reform

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

A three-year term for House of Representatives would be a good change. Less time might be spent campaigning and more time working.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

In the past couple of years, I've decided that since we have placed term limits on the President, we should place them on both houses of Congress.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Although not a representative, Harry Truman's Senate work is a good model, Peter Rodino, as head of the Watergate investigation, was exemplary. In the present Congress, I will fit best with Mark Meadows, Thomas Masse, Jim Jordan and the Freedom Caucus.

Both sitting representatives 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 rancher who is dealing with the U.S. Forest Service nearly daily. Nameless, faceless bureaucrats in D.C. do not have a clue about what it takes to farm and ranch. More than one story from people who have to deal with the federal bureaucracy has effected me deeply.
Those stories reinforce for me how we need representatives who are unafraid to cut the bureaucracy. This can be done easily by cutting department budgets. States can then pick up responsibilities that they should have been carrying for decades!

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Footnotes

[show]

Utah's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Curtis (R)

Mike Lee (R)

Representatives

District 1

Blake Moore (R)

District 2

Celeste Maloy (R)

District 3

Mike Kennedy (R)

District 4

Burgess Owens (R)

Republican Party (6)