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  "path": "/politics/2026/06/05/who-is-karianne-lisonbee-and-what-are-her-priorities-utah-republican-primary/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-06T03:00:01.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.deseret.com",
  "tags": [
    "won the Republican nomination at the state convention",
    "Utah 2nd District candidates Blake Moore and Karianne Lisonbee clash in primary debate",
    "more than $12.7 billion",
    "Trump’s new budget asks for $1.5 trillion in defense spending, cuts domestic programs",
    "Rep. Celeste Maloy secures initial $10M in Utah’s bid for $1 billion in Great Salt Lake funding",
    "approved a resolution",
    "War in Iran: The latest",
    "Separating fact from fiction on the massive Utah data center project",
    "said",
    "Political backlash compels Kevin O’Leary to pivot on massive data center project"
  ],
  "textContent": "**Editor’s note:**_The Deseret News has invited congressional candidates for the closely contested party primaries to visit with its Editorial Board. This story is one in a series of candidate previews on issues._\n\nTo Karianne Lisonbee, a Republican candidate in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, the federal government is too big, and it does too much.\n\nAs one of two women in Utah’s history to be elected to the state’s House leadership three times, Lisonbee won the Republican nomination at the state convention at the end of April with 61.5% of delegates’ vote.\n\nLisonbee served as Utah’s House majority whip and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, during her nearly 10 years of service as a state representative.\n\nIn a meeting with the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards on Friday, she described the main issues pushing her to run for U.S. Congress.\n\n“We are speeding toward a fiscal cliff and running out of room to slow down,” she said. “If we don’t do something soon, it’s not going to end well.”\n\nShe said government spending and the country’s ever-increasing $39 trillion debt are her biggest priorities.\n\nUtah 2nd District candidates Blake Moore and Karianne Lisonbee clash in primary debate\n\n### Hill Air Force Base and the Department of War\n\nLisonbee said if elected, she would prioritize getting a spot on the Armed Services Committee to give input on Utah’s role in national defense.\n\nHill Air Force Base, located within Utah’s new 2nd District, is a massive economic driver for the state, bringing in more than $12.7 billion for Utah’s economy every year.\n\n“Hill and the surrounding aerospace industry are huge economic drivers, so absolutely we want to keep them vibrant,” Lisonbee said.\n\nShe continued, “Those standing committees are where you can really serve the constituencies.”\n\nLisonbee said she would also pursue a spot on an appropriations committee to help keep government spending in check.\n\nWhen asked whether she would approve President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion budget request for the Pentagon, Lisonbee said, “We want to work with the administration to make sure that that we’re prioritizing important things. I think we can be a lot more mindful about the way that we approach expenditures as we’re scrutinizing — hopefully — every dollar.\"\n\nLisonbee said she would support funding for autonomous weapons and drones “as long as they’re very well tested,” but said she and her constituents are wary of mass surveillance on a federal level.\n\n“Certainly human life is precious,” Lisonbee said when discussing autonomous weapons. “This is a difficult topic to discuss when we’re talking about human life, but obviously American lives matter to America, and we need to use technologies as much as we can to preserve those men and women in the armed forces who have vowed to stand on the frontlines, so I support that.”\n\nRegarding the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, Lisonbee said warrants should “absolutely be” required to collect data or wiretap Americans.\n\nTrump’s new budget asks for $1.5 trillion in defense spending, cuts domestic programs\n\n### Lisonbee skeptical of $1 billion for the Great Salt Lake\n\nThe proposed 2027 budget for the federal Interior Department includes a $1 billion allocation for funding toward Utah’s Great Salt Lake.\n\nLisonbee referenced this federal budget item. “That’s deficit spending right now. Where did that come from? What program did we have to cut to come up with $1 billion or are we just increasing prices for every Utahn and American?” she asked.\n\nShe referenced Utah’s current efforts to burn phragmites, a water-intensive reed that grows around the lake, and said she would like to know how the extra funding would add to the state’s already-existing operations.\n\n“I care deeply about the ecosystem of the lake and the lake’s health,” she said.\n\nBut first, “I think we ought to justify why we need $1 billion with a finite resource. Are we thinking about buying enough water to bring the lake back up to a healthy level? If that’s the case, where are we going to get it from?”\n\nRep. Celeste Maloy secures initial $10M in Utah’s bid for $1 billion in Great Salt Lake funding\n\n### Iran and whether to rein in military operations\n\nThe U.S. and Iran entered a fragile ceasefire on April 7, after 38 days of fighting. On Wednesday, the House approved a resolution to rein in Trump’s war powers and end U.S. military operations in the area. The vote passed 215-208, with four Republican votes.\n\nLisonbee said she was “split” on whether she would have voted for the resolution, but leans toward yes.\n\n“I’m obviously not involved or included in those secure briefings that happen at the federal level, but I am grateful for a president who is decisive, who went in and who I think had an exit strategy,” she said.\n\nShe continued, “I’m not sure how I would have voted. I would like more information, but I would lean toward being done.”\n\nWar in Iran: The latest\n\n### Can Lisonbee work across the political aisle?\n\nWhen asked whether she would be willing to work with Democrats to pass legislation, Lisonbee said, “I am a collaborator. I build coalitions, and I’m effective at it.”\n\nShe referenced her decade in Utah’s Legislature, in which she worked with Democratic lawmakers on their bills to help them get passed.\n\nIn a separate conversation with the Deseret News, Rep. Verona Mauga, D-Salt Lake City, said she frequently went to Lisonbee for advice on bills she hoped to pass. They served together on Utah’s House Judiciary Committee.\n\nWhen discussing potential legislation, “(Lisonbee) would say, ‘I think that’s a good policy, or I don’t think that’s a good policy for these reasons.’ I don’t think she worried too much about what that might look like politically. I think she’s someone who was willing to do the work and work across the aisle if the policy made sense,” Mauga said.\n\nDuring Friday’s editorial board meeting, Lisonbee said, “I can tell you that there are quite a few Democrats in the House in Utah who have passed bills because I’ve helped them. It’s been great to work with them.”\n\nSeparating fact from fiction on the massive Utah data center project\n\n### Lisonbee’s take on Utah’s large-scale data center\n\nDuring her recent primary debate against incumbent Rep. Blake Moore, Lisonbee said she was “not supportive at this point” of the recently approved data center in Box Elder County.\n\nDuring her conversation with the Deseret News, Lisonbee said, “I’m not anti-data center. I’m definitely pro-business. But what I think we’re seeing here is the result of a lack of good process.”\n\nShe referenced residents of Box Elder County she’d talked to personally over the past several days. Some said they opposed the center; some said they supported it.\n\nLisonbee said she believes important conversations about the data center remain to be had. “I think if elected officials would open the doors and invite people in, they would go and share and let elected officials make their case as well,” she said.\n\nUtah’s primary elections will be held on June 23.\n\nPolitical backlash compels Kevin O’Leary to pivot on massive data center project",
  "title": "Karianne Lisonbee’s pitch to Utah voters: Smaller federal government"
}