Politics & Government
Brammer, Smith clash on taxes, roads in District 21 debate
Rob Shelton | Lehi Free Press
Two candidates vying for Utah Senate District 21 squared off on May 19 at an American Fork Chamber of Commerce forum, clashing over tax cuts, education funding and the region’s growing transportation problems, with a June 23 primary just weeks away.
Incumbent Sen. Brady Brammer and challenger Kelly Smith, a Cedar Hills city council member and retired educator, answered audience questions for nearly an hour. Chamber board chair Rod Martin reminded the crowd that “local elections are decided by a very few votes, so your voice does matter.”
The sharpest exchange came over income taxes. Brammer defended six years of incremental cuts, totaling $1.5 billion, he said, arguing they’ve grown the economy and doubled education funding over the same period. He noted Utah now ranks 46th nationally in property tax burden and that the state has the fifth-highest starting teacher salary in the country.
Smith, a former classroom teacher, wasn’t buying it. “Any cut in income taxes is a cut in education funding. It just is what it is,” she said. “Those small cuts make educators feel less valued. They make the people who work in our schools feel like we don’t care about education.”
“The proof is in the pudding,” Brammer shot back. “Six years in a row of cutting income taxes, and six years in a row of increasing what we can pay our educators.”
Both candidates named transportation as the district’s most pressing challenge. Smith called for more directed state investment in fast-growing communities west of I-15, warning that affordable housing is meaningless if people can’t get anywhere. “We’ve been kind of chasing it, and we need a more directed approach,” she said.
Brammer said the money is already moving. As chair of the Utah County caucus, he said he has secured $1.5 billion programmed for roads around Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Lehi, American Fork and Herriman over the next three to four years, including a new I-15 interchange near the Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi.
Audience members pushed both candidates on data center development. Brammer said the legislature has legitimate oversight over water use and energy rates but cautioned against overreach. Smith focused on process, saying the state moved too fast on a recent large proposal. “We need to slow things down,” she said. “We need some serious guardrails and some serious conversations between state and local government.”
The broader state-versus-local tension surfaced throughout the night. Smith, drawing on her years on the Cedar Hills City Council, argued the legislature is too disconnected from the communities it serves. “If each of our legislators agreed with us and was working with us, we would have that same type of consensus in the legislature and we do not,” she said.
Brammer pushed back with a pointed question: “Are you here for cities, or are you here for citizens? And they’re not always the same thing.” He also addressed why American Fork was excluded from the Utah Lake Authority he created, acknowledging the city was left off the original board because of its opposition, though he said American Fork can join now through the Council of Governments.
On social issues the two drew a sharp contrast. Brammer was categorical on transgender athletes, “Men are men and women are women” and said he supports a constitutional amendment banning abortion except in cases of rape, incest, risk to the mother’s life and fetal abnormalities. He also supports local school districts’ authority to remove age-inappropriate books.
Smith agreed women’s sports need protection but said she wasn’t sure of the right policy approach. She follows her faith’s guidance on abortion while stressing the importance of protecting women’s medical health, citing situations in neighboring states where doctors couldn’t help women with dangerous, nonviable pregnancies. “That is a dangerous place to begin,” she said. “I don’t want to see us ever get there.”
Brammer closed by pointing to eight years of legislative experience and endorsements from U.S. Rep. John Curtis, Sen. Mike Kennedy and the county sheriff, among others.
Smith closed by noting that more than half of current legislators are developers or attorneys, fewer than 10% have backgrounds in education, fewer than a third have been small business owners and only a handful have served in local government.
“I have done all three,” she said. “I am running for you and your community. I would be honored to earn your vote.”
Ballots for the June 23 Republican primary arrive June 3. The debate is available to replay on the American Fork Chamber of Commerce’s YouTube channel. There will be one more in-person debate June 11 at 6 p.m. at the Silicon Slopes headquarters located at 2600 Executive Parkway Suite 140 in Lehi.
Previous coverage including candidate responses to questions can be found at https://lehifreepress.com/2026/03/03/candidates-for-utah-legislative-senate-seat-21-profiled/ and https://lehifreepress.com/2026/03/18/brammer-and-smith-vie-for-utah-senate-district-21-seat/.
