{ "_contentGuidelines": "Mobile limit: 2 paragraphs max. Character range 512-599 depending on word length. Short words (avg 4-5 letters) stay under 580 chars. Longer words (avg 5+ letters) can reach ~600 but wrap harder on mobile. Word count range: 78-103. Always test on mobile.", "pageTitle": "The Commitment", "pageSubHeader": "Standing for Utah's Families", "heroImage": "iwojima-2.jpg", "heroAlt": "Iwo Jima Memorial silhouette at sunset", "intro": "", "pillars": [ { "id": "affordability", "title": "Affordability", "intro": "Utah families are getting squeezed from every direction while corporations and billionaires get tax breaks. Home prices have doubled since 2013. A family in South Jordan needs $180,000 in income just to buy a median home. That is not a housing market. That is a system rigged against you.", "subtopics": [ { "id": "healthcare-costs", "title": "Healthcare That Works for Families", "shortTitle": "Healthcare", "text": "Insurance companies make billions deciding who gets care and who gets a bill they will never pay off. Rural hospitals across Utah face losing 21 cents of every Medicaid dollar, and veterans in Sevier and Millard counties drive two hours each way for a basic appointment.\n\nWhen I was diagnosed with cancer, the VA took care of me. That is exactly how it should work. Nobody should go without the care they need. I will hold insurance companies accountable, expand rural access, bring prescription drug costs under control, and push for a VA clinic where communities need one.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-affordability-01-healthcare.webp", "imageAlt": "Jonny with Iron County Democrats at convention" }, { "id": "housing-costs", "title": "A Home You Can Actually Buy", "shortTitle": "Housing", "text": "Home prices in Utah have doubled since 2013 while wages barely kept pace. The median home in Sandy costs $664,000. In Draper, it is $960,000. Institutional investors keep buying homes that working families need. 88 percent of Utah renters cannot afford to become homeowners.\n\nHomeownership builds community. You get to know your neighbors. That is a Utah value worth fighting for. I will fight to stop corporations from buying single family homes as investments, protect first-time buyers, and bring housing costs down so the next generation gets their share of the American dream.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-affordability-02-housing.webp", "imageAlt": "Community meeting with Utah mountains in the background" }, { "id": "cost-of-living", "title": "The Cost of Living Squeeze", "shortTitle": "Cost of Living", "text": "Tariffs are driving up groceries, clothes, and farm equipment. Childcare for an infant costs over $11,000 a year in Utah. Gas prices spike every time politicians start a conflict with no exit plan. While your costs climb, Washington added $5 trillion to the debt, with the biggest tax cuts going to those who need them least.\n\nWorking families did not cause this and should not pay for it. I will fight to lower everyday costs, oppose trade policies that punish consumers, and make sure tax dollars go to the people who need them, not the corporations and billionaires who do not.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-affordability-03-cost-of-living.webp", "imageAlt": "Jonny engaging with community" } ] }, { "id": "working-class", "title": "Working Class Republic", "intro": "This country was built by working people. Somewhere along the way, the rules got rewritten to benefit the ones at the top. CEO pay has gone up over 1,000 percent since 1978. Worker pay went up 26 percent. It is time to rewrite those rules back.", "subtopics": [ { "id": "fair-wages", "title": "Your Work Should Pay for Your Life", "shortTitle": "Fair Wages", "text": "Nobody working full time should need a second or third job just to survive. Wages in Utah have barely kept pace with inflation. After adjusting for rising costs, the average worker gained about a penny an hour between 2020 and 2023. Meanwhile, CEO pay has gone up over 1,000 percent since 1978.\n\nMy grandmother worked hard her entire life. Her union pension and benefits meant she could raise me with dignity instead of desperation. Every worker deserves that same shot. I will fight for wages that let families live, not just scrape by, and spend time with your loved ones.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-working-01-wages.webp", "imageAlt": "Jonny with Democratic leaders at a community event" }, { "id": "labor-rights", "title": "The Right to Organize", "shortTitle": "Labor Rights", "text": "The labor movement built the American middle class. Social Security, the 40-hour work week, overtime pay, workplace safety laws, and the minimum wage all exist because working people fought for them. My grandmother was a Teamster. That union gave her family stability.\n\nUtah has a deep labor history. Miners at Bingham Canyon, railroad workers at Promontory Summit, and the 200 men and boys killed in the Scofield Mine disaster all fought for the dignity workers deserve today. The right to organize is not a relic. It is how working people hold power. I will always defend it.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-working-02-labor.webp", "imageAlt": "Community organizing event with supporters" }, { "id": "public-lands", "title": "Public Lands and Rural Jobs", "shortTitle": "Public Lands", "text": "Our public lands are not for sale. They are the economic backbone of every rural county in this district. PILT payments bring in roughly $15 to $18 million a year, funding schools, roads, and emergency services. Ranchers depend on federal grazing permits that cost a fraction of private rates. Outdoor recreation supports over 75,000 jobs statewide.\n\nPoliticians like Mike Lee and Celeste Maloy tried to sell off millions of acres of our public lands and lost. I will keep public lands public, fully fund PILT, protect grazing access, and make sure rural communities keep the resources they depend on.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-working-03-public-lands.webp", "imageAlt": "Utah public lands and outdoor recreation" } ] }, { "id": "accountability", "title": "Accountability", "intro": "In the Marine Corps, leaders are held to the highest standard. You answer for your decisions. Congress should work the same way. The people we send to Washington should answer to us, not to lobbyists, not to their stock portfolios, and not to the billionaires writing their checks.", "subtopics": [ { "id": "immigration-reform", "title": "Immigration Reform That Works", "shortTitle": "Immigration", "text": "The immigration system is broken. Corporations exploit visa programs to undercut American workers and drive down wages.\n\nWe do not need masked agents terrorizing communities. We need a system that is fair, enforceable, and holds corporations accountable when they profit from broken immigration law. Reform means fixing it from the top down, not punishing people at the bottom. I will push for real reform that secures the border, creates workable pathways, and stops corporations from exploiting American workers.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-accountability-01-immigration.webp", "imageAlt": "Rally in St. George" }, { "id": "congressional-integrity", "title": "End Corruption in Congress", "shortTitle": "Integrity", "text": "Corporations are not people. Citizens United opened the floodgates to unlimited money. Billionaires buy politicians while politicians protect billionaires. That is not democracy. That is a transaction.\n\nMembers of Congress should not trade stocks on information the rest of us do not have. I support banning congressional stock trading and overturning Citizens United. This campaign is grassroots-funded because I answer to Utah's 4th District, not corporate donors. When your representative takes their money, they work for them. I work for you first and foremost!", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-accountability-02-integrity.webp", "imageAlt": "Jonny standing by the American flag" }, { "id": "checks-balances", "title": "Defending the Constitution", "shortTitle": "Constitution", "text": "I swore an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. No president, no party, and no corporation gets to override it. Executive overreach is not strength. It is the opposite of what this country was built on.\n\nThat oath drives everything I do. It is why I will fight to protect Social Security and Medicare for the 99,000 beneficiaries in this district. It is why I will hold any administration accountable when they overstep. And it is why veterans like me do not need a briefing to understand what is at stake. We swore to protect it.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-accountability-03-checks.webp", "imageAlt": "Jonny at a community gathering" } ] }, { "id": "utah-values", "title": "Utah Values", "intro": "Utah is not just where we live. It is who we are. From protecting the rights of every Utahn to preserving the land and water that sustain our communities, these are the values worth standing for. Every person in this state deserves dignity, and every community deserves a representative who will show up for them.", "subtopics": [ { "id": "equal-rights", "title": "Equal Rights for Every Utahn", "shortTitle": "Equal Rights", "text": "The Equal Rights Amendment was written in 1923. A century later, we still have not ratified it. That tells you everything about Washington.\n\nWomen deserve equal pay and full control over their own healthcare decisions. That is between a woman and her doctor. Not a politician and a lobbyist. LGBTQ+ and transgender Utahns deserve the same protections everyone else has. No child should walk into school feeling unsafe because of who they are. Every kid deserves to grow up knowing their community has their back. Equality for all!", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-utah-01-equality.webp", "imageAlt": "Jonny at 2025 Pride parade" }, { "id": "great-salt-lake", "title": "The Great Salt Lake and Agriculture", "shortTitle": "Great Salt Lake", "text": "The black outline on this satellite image shows where the Great Salt Lake stood in 1987. When the lakebed dries, the dust carries arsenic into the lungs of Wasatch Front families.\n\nRanchers and farmers are stuck under \"use it or lose it\" water laws that punish conservation. Alfalfa and hay use 68 percent of the state's diverted water, much exported overseas. I will push for federal support to help farmers invest in underground irrigation that cuts usage by 30 to 70 percent and protect farmland from forced sales. Investing in farmers over billionaires is investing in America.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-utah-02-greatsaltlake.webp", "imageAlt": "Great Salt Lake satellite comparison showing 1987 water levels versus 2024 shrinkage" }, { "id": "education", "title": "Our Kids Deserve Better Than Last Place", "shortTitle": "Education", "text": "Utah ranks dead last in the country for per-pupil education spending. Last. That is not something any of us should accept. Our teachers are underpaid, classrooms are overcrowded, and politicians want to divert public school funding to private voucher programs with zero accountability.\n\nEvery child in this district deserves a quality education regardless of their zip code. I will fight to protect public school funding, support our teachers, and make sure that when families pay taxes for education, those dollars actually reach the classroom.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-utah-04-education.webp", "imageAlt": "Utah students in a classroom" }, { "id": "veterans-support", "title": "Standing with Utah Veterans", "shortTitle": "Veterans", "text": "In 2025, the VA lost 1,000 physicians, 1,500 schedulers, and 3,000 nurses. Doug Collins calls it reorganization. Veterans waiting months for a basic appointment call it abandonment.\n\nThe VA does not need fewer people. It needs the right people in the right places. Mental health providers are stretched past capacity. Homeless veterans get shuffled into shelters that treat them like cases, not people. The VA should have dedicated housing built around recovery, not red tape. I will fight to restore VA staffing, expand mental health access, and get veterans back on their feet.", "image": "/images/the-commitment/commitment-utah-03-veterans.webp", "imageAlt": "Spring City Veterans Memorial" } ] } ] }