Born and raised in Ogden, I learned responsibility and hard work from my dad; and all about optimism and service from my mom. I got picked on plenty as the youngest of five kids, but now we just debate who was the best athlete. I was. If they want to refute that, they are welcome to run for Congress.
Simply put, sports taught me the importance of relying on those around you, and that constant improvement is possible. During my senior year, I was awarded the Wendy’s National High School Heisman, honoring high school seniors for athletics, academics, and citizenship. This brought all kinds of unexpected experiences from articles in church magazines to being honored by Governor Leavitt and the Utah Legislature, and the late Mayor Glenn J. Mecham dedicating December 23rd as Blake Moore Day in Ogden. What I remember most, however, was a brief conversation with a Heisman trustee after the ceremony. He mentioned that it was my Eagle Scout and other service projects that set me apart. I remember thinking at that very moment - I’m not special; that’s just the way we raise kids in Northern Utah.
After graduating high school, I signed a scholarship to play quarterback at Utah State University for a mentor and friend Dave Arslanian (Coach Ars). In Logan, I became fast friends with Aggie basketball great Spencer Nelson, and he and I entered the Missionary Training Center on the same day. We remain the closest of friends and have become real estate partners for a small business based in Logan, UT. I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Seoul, South Korea, and I finished my bachelor’s degree at the University of Utah. I later obtained a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University.
Jane Boyer and I got married prior to our move to Singapore, and we celebrated 10 years this past September. Jane takes it a step beyond just being supportive, she encourages me to take risks and pursue big things. She is reflective, spiritual, humorous, and not the least bit content. We have four amazing boys, Max, George, Winston, and Franklin. Max is the most good-natured and dutiful boy I’ve ever known; George is clearly the most charming, admittedly too charming, Winston is the most lovable, and Franklin is our new bundle of joy born December 2021. Family is everything, and I hope to make them proud in this campaign and the service that is to come.
Service and Professional Experience
I began my career by serving our country in various civilian roles, most notably as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State, in the intelligence and defense community. This service first took me to Washington D.C. and then Asia, where I gained first-hand knowledge of the threats we face from foreign enemies, and where I was involved in our foreign policy approach to the Chinese government. Serving in this capacity also gave me a unique understanding of what is vital and what is wasteful in our federal government.
For nearly the last decade, I’ve been with Cicero Group, a Utah-based management consulting firm, where I’ve helped businesses grow and helped organizations solve complex problems. My primary role is to collect information, analyze it, create a plan, and then take companies through the change process. Over the last three years, I have worked extensively with George W. Bush Institute’s school leadership team to help school districts effectively recruit, retain, and develop K-12 principals and administrators. In addition to education, I’ve led projects in healthcare, higher education, marketing, waste, and transportation. I have also done extensive policy-related work with public sector clients as the practice lead for Dan Jones and Associates. This experience has given me both a broad and deep understanding of effective business practices, how to understand data, and implement operational improvements. This is exactly the type of experience needed in Congress in normal times, but it’s even more important with what’s ahead these next several years.
Outside of work, I have invested heavily in community-building efforts on behalf of the Utah Adoption Exchange and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. I founded a local kickball event that supported the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program focusing on finding forever families for children in foster care. I was also recently appointed as co-chair to help develop the next generation of chamber of commerce leaders.
Ready to Serve
A mentor recently told me the following, “I once thought service was the sacrifice, but later realized you must sacrifice for the privilege to serve.” This community set me up for success by teaching me the value of service and the importance of commitment. Those traits have been a common thread throughout my life, and it is time to give that back to the 1st District.
I ran for Congress to ensure we have conservative leadership for our nation’s future. Who we send to Washington matters. Elections are about the future and the stakes have never been higher.
Energy
As a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus and the Natural Resources Committee, I believe it is imperative that Republicans have a seat at the table to talk about responsible environmental stewardship. I have worked in a bipartisan manner on legislation to modernize wildfire prevention and mitigation and create drought-resilient communities. I have also worked with local leaders to rehabilitate the Great Salt Lake and keep it healthy long into the future by advancing my saline lakes legislation through the House of Representatives.
When it comes to energy, I believe we should empower American industry to create clean, innovative, affordable solutions to our energy demands without picking winners and losers. Our ability to leverage and expand newer, cleaner technologies is growing, and we must ensure that regulations don’t disincentivize investments in these promising technologies. In the meantime, we should be proud of how we produce energy in America. Compared with foreign countries, our traditional energy sources are cleaner, more efficient, and more affordable. In my role on the House Natural Resources Committee, I have introduced legislation that will unleash American energy production and modernize our energy policies. We owe it to Americans to ensure they can access these energy resources, especially as costs everywhere are skyrocketing.
Pro-Life
I am proud to be the only candidate endorsed by the Susan B. Anthony List and National Right to Life. I am committed to ensuring that expecting women have the resources and support they need to bring new life into the world. I have proudly cosponsored and voted for legislation to stop taxpayer funding of abortion, coordinate resources for low-income expecting mothers, protect the conscience rights of healthcare providers, and more.
Afghanistan
Americans deserve to know what went wrong in Biden’s disastrous handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. Last August, I introduced the Afghanistan Accountability Act to immediately identify the breakdown between Biden, the DOD, and the intelligence community that facilitated this crisis. The bill was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act, along with provisions to prohibit the DOD from providing any financial support to the Taliban, require plans to rescue Americans still in Afghanistan, and identify and recover U.S. military equipment left behind. I was proud to be appointed to Leader McCarthy’s task force to hold Biden accountable for the Afghanistan withdrawal and protect U.S. national security. My team and I spent the summer and fall helping evacuate Americans and Afghans from the country, and our casework continues to this day. It is unconscionable that the Biden administration left Americans to die because it failed to devise a plan for a responsible withdrawal, and I will keep pressing on the Armed Services committee until we have all the answers we are demanding and we ensure there are systems in place that will prevent a foreign policy crisis of this magnitude from ever happening again.
China
Maintaining our competitive edge against China should be one of Congress’s top priorities, and I am committed to strengthening our national security, building up U.S. manufacturing, securing our supply chains, and defending American intellectual property. In an exceptional move for a freshman legislator, House Leadership selected me to serve alongside committee chairs and ranking members as a conferee on the House-Senate conference committee to counter China and maintain America’s competitive edge in science and technology. We must ensure America continues to boast the world’s strongest, most diverse economy and military as our global competitors seek to undermine international norms.
Immigration
President Biden’s border crisis endangers our national security, and I have spent countless hours holding DHS Secretary Mayorkas accountable for failed policies. From undermining the Remain in Mexico Policy to failing to address the fentanyl crisis that is killing Americans, this administration has abdicated its basic responsibility to secure our borders. I voted to restrict the Biden administration from sending checks to people who violated U.S. immigration laws and I defended the use of Title 42, which gives our Border Patrol more tools to manage our border. I recently visited the border and I also invited a border patrol agent to testify in front of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee about how Biden’s border policies are allowing drugs to flow across our border and into our communities.
Legal immigration is the only way that people should enter our nation. As we enhance border security, we can also look at streamlining the immigration system more broadly. Immigrants play an important role in our society and economy, and we can welcome and encourage lawful entry into our nation for those who seek to contribute to this great nation without harming the American workforce.
Inflation
This summer, inflation hit a 40-year high at 9.1% and our GDP growth was negative. We have a shrinking workforce and a shrinking economy. Democrats’ federal spending agenda is one of the main contributors to inflation. Between the CARES Act, ARPA, infrastructure package, appropriations bills, CHIPS Act, Inflation Act, and now loan forgiveness, federal spending is raising inflation, lowering job opportunities and incomes, and producing long-term deficits.
If Americans elect Republicans to take back the majority in November, I believe our best approach to solving inflation would be to increase supply rather than lower demand and economic activity to the point of a recession.
Biden’s solutions have been ineffective because they center on increasing demand through price controls and subsidies. Increasing supply entails lifting regulations, connecting workers with jobs, bringing in workers through immigration as needed, addressing supply chain bottlenecks, and pairing this with reduced spending. Increasing taxes on made-in-America manufacturing and small businesses through Biden’s Inflation Act is ultimately not going to promote growth.
We also should stabilize our R&D credit, continue to simplify our tax code, and ensure businesses can predict what their taxes will look like and allow them to write off equipment and technology so they can keep growing our economy.
Funding the Police
Police officers are the backbone of our communities, and I have been honored to host multiple roundtable discussions with First District law enforcement officials to discuss challenges with hiring and retention, funding streams, and fighting crime. I joined colleagues on wheels for a Back the Blue bike rally at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial to honor police officers during National Police Week, spoke at Honor 365’s 9/11 Honor Walk in Layton to pay my respects to fallen local heroes, including Ogden Officer Nate Lyday, and am humbled to display a photo of Officer Nate Lyday in my office to remind me everyday of how we can better protect those who sacrifice all to protect us. I am horrified that America experienced more officer deaths in the line of duty in 2021 than in any year since 1995. We are facing a crime crisis with record police shootings and homicide rates in 2021, and I am fighting radical efforts to defund the police because keeping communities safe should be at the center of all we do.
Ukraine
I am grieved by Russia’s war in Ukraine, and I have used my leadership positions on the House Natural Resources and Armed Services Committees to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable. I am disappointed that President Biden failed to provide meaningful lethal aid to Ukraine or enact costly sanctions ahead of Russia’s invasion and has continued to move the goal post on full and effective sanctions on Russian banks and oligarchs. Nonetheless, I believe we must work across the aisle and with our allies and partners across the world to deter aggression, prosecute Putin for his war crimes, and enforce the rules-based international order.
One of the simplest responses to this invasion should be to reduce dependence on Russian energy so American allies stop financing Putin’s war. As Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, I am leading Republican oversight of President Biden’s destructive energy policies. In this critical position, I am confronting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by urging the Administration to lift oil and gas restrictions on federal land, rebuild U.S. energy production, and provide oil and gas to our European allies. I am also drafting legislation to enhance American energy production; cosponsoring strategic legislation to impose costly sanctions on Russia and support lethal aid to Ukraine; and leading the way to modernize our military and maintain our competitive advantage on the House Armed Services Committee.
Election Integrity
Ensuring our elections are safe and secure should be a top priority for all Americans. In a way, I began helping to secure Utah’s elections long ago. Growing up, my mom enlisted me to help sort ballots when she served as a clerk in the Weber County Clerk’s Office. In Congress, I have worked hard to support election integrity by opposing H.R. 1, the Democrats’ egregious legislation to give the federal government control over state elections, overturn voter ID laws, and allow taxpayer funding for political campaigns. I have welcomed Weber County’s Clerk and Auditor Ricky Hatch to testify before members of Congress and share Weber County’s secure voting processes. I have also spoken out against corporate boycotts of states like Georgia that have secured their election systems. I will safeguard the constitutional right of state and local officials to administer their own elections and ensure that each and every legal vote is counted.
Mandates
Federal vaccine mandates have no place in the United States of America, and I have worked hard to fight President Biden’s federal overreach at every turn through legislation, letters to the Biden administration, court briefs, and more. These mandates infringe on our individual liberties and force Americans out of the workplace at a time when inflation is skyrocketing. Mandates are counterproductive and an affront to struggling American families. I am glad the Supreme Court overturned Biden’s sweeping private employer mandates, and I was proud to file an amicus brief arguing that the Biden administration overstepped its authority. I believe we need to communicate the effectiveness of vaccines and other public health measures in a politically neutral manner and also factor in the role of natural immunity when setting public health measures. In addition, I used my role on the House Armed Services Committee to ensure that service members who chose not to take the COVID-19 vaccine could not be dishonorably discharged from the military, and to require DOD to establish standards under which service members could request vaccine exemptions.