Before running for Utah’s new, blue-leaning 1st Congressional District, Michael Farrell was virtually unknown in the world of politics.
For the last 12 years, he’s been a tax attorney. It’s partly why he thinks he’s well-suited for Congress.
“I was an economics major in undergrad, I'm a tax attorney, so I bring the actual practical knowledge and know-how of getting things done,” he said.
But he has garnered support. In a town hall held by the 71 Percent Coalition, a progressive group, every time Farrell made a point on the Great Salt Lake, economic development and affordability, he was met with cheers and applause. And he was able to gather the 7,000 signatures required to land on the primary ballot, no mean feat.
Those ballots are crowded. Farrell is one of four Democratic candidates vying for the seat in the June 23 primary, alongside state Sen. Nate Blouin, former U.S. House Rep. Ben McAdams and state convention winner Liban Mohamed.
Farrell considers himself a progressive, which means his biggest competition is Blouin and Mohamed. Blouin recently released a self-funded popularity poll to determine which progressive candidate has the strongest support, and is calling for the others to rally behind the winner to better take on McAdams, widely considered to be the more centrist candidate.
Farrell had no interest in this poll.
“I am not surprised that Nate went ahead without either Liban or me being supportive or on board,” he said in an email to KUER.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Farrell said he always knew he wanted to enter politics. After graduating from law school at the University of Michigan, he worked in Washington, D.C., Switzerland and Texas before moving to Utah with his wife in 2022.
KUER sat down with each Democratic 1st District candidate for a primary election profile. You can read interviews with Nate Blouin, Ben McAdams and Liban Mohamed. This interview with Michael Farrell has been edited for length and clarity.
What would you bring to Congress that's different?
I think what I would bring into Congress, different from any of the other candidates in this race, or you know, from what I see a lot of members of Congress already there, is I'm going to be a progressive. I'm going to be fighting for, you know, these progressive values, these policies. Like, for example, single-payer healthcare, that we've been fighting for in this country for 80-plus years.
But I'm going to bring the perspective of I'm a tax attorney, I've been a tax attorney for over 12 years now. I'll bring the perspective of, “Hey, I know what, actually I know where the money is, I know I have plans to get these things done.”
And I also bring a track record of a partner at a law firm. I've had a successful career. I've built coalitions, that's all I do as an attorney. I'm a transactional attorney, so I negotiate deals, and I work with sides. And when you're starting on a deal with someone, one side wants X, the other side wants zero X. So working together to get things done is going to be necessary in Congress, and that's all I've been doing for 12 years.
How would you describe your politics within the wide range of views that make up the Democratic Party?
I'm very progressive. I would say that if you did a checklist of all the progressive policy goals, if you were comparing the things that – I want to throw out a name like AOC [U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] or [former Sen.] Sherrod Brown or someone like that – we're going to line up pretty well.
If elected, you're likely to be the only Democrat in the delegation. How would you work with your fellow Utah representatives in Washington?
Let's assume the three incumbents winning it. I will work with them on issues that are bespoke to Utah, that really touch on every district here, and touch on all residents.
And you know, obviously, the most important one of that from my perspective, and should be from theirs, as well, is saving the Great Salt Lake. Great Salt Lake goes away, we don't have any members of Congress, because the state's gone. So working with Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy, Mike Kennedy, etc., working with them to bring funding into Utah for water levels to set federal minimum water levels, things like that.
And then I'll have to work with folks in Idaho and Wyoming that are going to be Republicans as well, to divert more water from Bear Lake down to the Great Salt Lake, things like that. That doesn't stress me out at all.
How do you want to shape policy around fast-growing AI technology?
It scares me. AI scares me, and I don't want to sound like a Luddite there, but I hear a lot of people pushing, "Hey, the train’s left the station, we need to hop on board.” That has never worked in society in history without leaving carnage in its wake. We're acting like it's out of our hands, like Skynet is live and kicking, and we can't do anything. That's just naive.
We, being the actors who are doing, who are Anthropic, other actors like that, that are building these generative AI systems, and then the federal government, we have to work together to make sure that any way that AI advances, however it goes, it needs to take care that we don't disrupt society. We don’t, you know, create 20% unemployment.
For example, data centers is obviously tied to AI in Utah here. I'm completely against data centers in Utah, zero, no, full ban. We don't have the water for it. And I hear, you know, closed system, et cetera. Where's the water coming from? It will use up water that we need to be going to the Great Salt Lake. So I'm completely against putting data centers here in Utah.
What are some of your priorities when it comes to environmental policy?
Yeah, so I already mentioned saving the Great Salt Lake. So federal minimum water levels there, diverting more water from Bear Lake to the Great Salt Lake, [and] setting federal minimum water levels, things already said.
But then again, tax attorney, so [from a] perspective of what can we do with financial incentives to get people to use less water on their yards or things like that? Or we can set up a leasing water rights system, because Utah's got very peculiar water rights, you know, even in the Mountain West.
So, having people be comfortable, “Hey, it's not a use it or lose it, you don't have to use up all your water now. You can let some of that water go to the Great Salt Lake so we can reinvigorate that.”
And then cleaning up the air quality.
I think a lot of it starts from a full-on, all-hands-on-deck approach at the federal government level for investments in clean energy. Call it the Green New Deal, call it whatever you want. As an aside, I think Democrats aren't great on messaging; we get a little tripped up there. I don't really care what it's called, but a clean energy revolution. Like, we were already at a point in economics and efficiency where clean, renewable energy is cheaper and more efficient than petro, coal, etc., dirty energy. And transitioning to that, the sooner the better, will help clean up the air quality.
I want my children and I want my grandchildren to grow up in the state. If we don't do something to fix it, there's not going to be a Salt Lake City.
I don't want to be hyperbolic, but we cannot let, you know, several rich shareholders of fossil fuel companies dictate what we do with environmental policy when we're looking outside our windows, and we can see, “Hey, what we've been doing is bad, and the air quality is not getting any better, the inversion is not getting any better, the Great Salt Lake's not getting any better.” We need to pivot.
What's the first thing you would do to address Utahns' cost of living?
Donald Trump is president for the second time because he ran on: people were upset about egg prices. Obviously, the president doesn't set grocery prices, but people are hurting and they're mad about how much everything costs, and I am, too.
Democrats need to get into Congress, assume we have a House majority in 2027, and we need to actually deliver real, tangible financial benefits for people into their pockets. Otherwise, what is the point of them voting for Democrats if we're not delivering and making their lives easier?
Some of the things that I wanted to push for is affordable housing, so like making large federal investments in starter homes. Growing up [in] a million-dollar house, you'd have a gate, you know, and now that's just not the case. Most people have been priced out of owning a home. So affordable housing, creating starter homes, federally backed mortgages with low down payments, things like that.
On grocery prices, cracking down on price gouging, things like that, and cutting debt back on what's called dynamic pricing, which is being implemented by some, but [the] price of milk can change within the hour.,
Transitioning away from gas, I think, would be helpful. But putting in an excise tax on fossil fuel companies, so that they're shouldering more of the burden, the cost of gas, instead of passing that on to consumers. These oil and gas companies, they're paying rates to pump [and] to drill the oil that were set in the 1920s. So those could probably be updated. If my mortgage was set in the 1920s, I would be living quite comfortably right now.
But I think shifting a lot of the burdens of these things onto the richer folks involved in the equation and making them shoulder more of the burden would be helpful.
