Solving Problems for Our Community
My name is Stephen Middleton, and I’m running for House District 48 to solve problems for the people of our community and focus on the issues that matter to you: public education funding, public transportation, affordable housing, the environment, our public lands, and more.
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About Me
Utah has been home to me and my family for a majority of my life. Whenever I have left for professional reasons, the mountains, the deserts, the outdoor recreation, and the family friendly environment have brought me back. For this reason, you will find me spending my free time with my family exploring this great state, skiing in the mountains, or trying new restaurants across the greater Salt Lake valley. I'm a proud father of 4 children and have been happily married to my wife Sarah for 10 years. Sarah is a CPA at a large professional accounting firm in the Valley. We have called Herriman home for the last 5 years.
Professionally I have worked in product management for the last 8 years. I currently work in an industry that manufactures advanced materials for the aerospace industry. These materials help support and protect our troops, allow planes and rotorcraft to fly farther and use less fuel, and allow wind turbines to be larger thus producing more green energy. Every day I work with cross functional teams to solve difficult problems which is a strength I bring to this campaign.
Most of my career has been in manufacturing, supporting advanced composite materials, building materials, and water and waste management materials. I have also worked in finance for a large hospitality company. I have a bachelor’s in finance and an MBA in marketing from Brigham Young University. I attended public school at Alta High School and am a passionate believer in protecting public education in Utah with my kids attending public school in the Jordan School District.
The strengths I bring as your representative are my ability to work across the aisle as a moderate with deep experience in connecting across organizations to drive results. Throughout my career I have worked to solve important problems with various types of stakeholders; whether they were a small business owner looking to grow their operations or an organization working on building parts for the F35. I have a strong analytical and financial background allowing me to quickly weigh pro's and con's of situations and drive for solutions. With a career across multiple industries, I can draw on a variety of experiences when finding solutions that work for Utah and House District 48. I look forward to serving House District 48 in the Utah House of Representatives.
Campaign Priorities
Public Education Funding
Public education is important to me and my family. My grandpa was the Vice Principal at Skyline High School for many years and his passion for public education can be seen in my family with many teachers found throughout it. One of the things that pulled me into this race was my disappointment in our legislature ignoring the will of the people by implementing a voucher system in Utah. This had been addressed in a public referendum with the state population saying “No” to vouchers and then ignored. Utah’s Public Education punches above its weight despite being under funded when compared to the growth that we have seen in our state. Utah's spending per pupil has historically been in the bottom compared to other states, but our performance is propped up by our great educators, support staff, and parents who pick up the slack created by our funding shortfalls.
Affordable Housing
Affordable housing is one of the greatest challenges our state faces. The legislature needs to lead the charge in finding solutions that will allow people to live in this state. We are poised to see a great brain drain as those individuals entering the workforce cannot find affordable housing and leave in search of more affordable locations. Our employers will struggle to retain talent as housing costs increase faster than wages, causing growth to stagnate. Our first responders and teachers will no longer be able to live in the communities in which they serve. We must address zoning issues and policies that limit affordable housing.
Public Transportation
Our location in the valley could be considered a public transportation desert. With one Trax stop in our district and no standard bus system, public transportation is limited. This will be compounded by upcoming big investments like the new ballpark in our area and additional growth coming to Point of the Mountain. These new ventures require access to public transportation and should be a key consideration of the initial process in these approvals, rather than an afterthought. Public transportation must go hand in hand with addressing our affordable housing issues.
Environment/Public Lands
Our access to nature is one of our state’s greatest assets. Recently the BLM has moved to limit access to many areas that were previously accessible to the public. We must work to find a compromise and a solution to allow continued access to these trails. My passion for this was previously demonstrated by volunteering on the Herriman Trails Committee to ensure the public had continued access to our great public lands.
We must do more to save the Great Salt Lake as the ecological and financial impacts are enormous if more aggressive actions are not taken. The current policies of our legislature could be too little, too late and I fear we may become complacent following a few good snow years leaving the underlying problems to our children and future generations. With the Olympics set to return, it is important we put our best foot forward in addressing environmental issues like this.
Endorsements and Distinctions
