Mark Allen said he wouldn’t have dreamed of running for office 10 years ago. But when state Rep. Mike Kohler — who represents House District 59, comprising Wasatch and Summit counties — announced that he would not be seeking reelection in this fall’s election, Allen knew he wanted to carry on Kohler’s legacy.
“Within 10 minutes, I was over at the clerk’s office filling out forms,” the Wallsburg Republican said. “I think the locals were asleep at the switch for a while, and we had people who wanted political power that got into office. … I thought, ‘Well, I want my kids and my grandkids to know that their grandpa was willing to stand for something.’”
Allen said he values Kohler’s willingness to listen, traditionalism and interest in agricultural and water protections. Allen is currently employed as a snowcat groomer at Deer Valley Resort. He’s never run for office before, but has been civically involved.
In the past, he helped manage social media for political campaigns, including American Fork Mayor Brad Frost’s 2024 successful bid for reelection and Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith’s first campaign in 2018.
Allen is also a volunteer for Citizen Portal AI, a website that uses generative AI to write summaries of public meetings. The candidate said he added 3,100 of Utah’s public entities, from cemetery committees to water boards, to the website’s system. Allen sees Citizen Portal AI as a tool to better inform the public.
“I don’t like going to public meetings, but there’s one thing I like less, (and that’s) finding out I missed a public meeting, and I missed a chance to have my voice heard,” he said.
Allen has been involved in conservation efforts since 2016 as the executive director of the American Fork Canyon Alliance, a nonprofit facilitating “courteous multi-user group interactions and best practices in American Fork Canyon and the Uinta National Forest.” He said he helped initiate efforts to preserve Bridal Veil Falls through a conservation easement in 2020.
He listed watershed, agricultural, open space and North Fields protections as some of the most pressing issues facing Wasatch and Summit counties.
The Utah Department of Transportation’s proposed Heber Valley bypass on the west of Heber City is another concern. He said he does not like Alternative A or B and would like to “have some discussions” about a different route if elected. UDOT will have the final say on the bypass, not the Utah House of Representatives.
Allen pointed to affordable housing and cuts to Medicare and Medicaid as other pressing local issues.
“$600,000 for a starter home? Our pioneer ancestors didn’t do it that way. They built a small thing and then they added on, paid as they went,” he said.
Among his biggest concerns statewide, government “bloat” and lack of transparency and accountability in all three branches ranks first.
The second was immigration.
“We’ve kind of left the barn door open for too many years. We’ve got too many mouths to feed, and not all those people who are here are here legally,” Allen said.
If elected, Allen said he plans to serve one two-year term. He also said he will rely on the support of Republican delegates rather than gathering signatures through paid petition campaigns.
“I want to be beholden to none and just follow my conscience,” he said.
The candidacy filing period ended Jan. 8. Three other candidates, Wasatch County Councilor Luke Searle, former Midway Mayor Celeste Johnson and Deer Valley Resort employee Micah Kagan have filed candidacies for District 59. Searle and Allen filed as Republicans, while Kagan and Johnson filed as Democrats.
If necessary, a primary election will be held on June 23 after the candidates’ respective party conventions. The general election will be held on Nov. 3.