John Dougall says his years of being a watchdog for Utah’s finances make him the best candidate to replace Rep. John Curtis in the U.S. House of Representatives.
On Monday morning, the state auditor filed to run as a Republican in Utah’s 3rd Congressional District race. Dougall’s announcement comes less than a week after Curtis launched his campaign to replace Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate.
Dougall says his bid for Congress comes out of a concern for America’s future.
“I know lots of folks say it’s hopeless,” he said of Beltway politics, “but I’m the eternal optimist.”
His name will officially appear on the ballot as “John ‘Frugal’ Dougall” — a nickname he has gone by on ballots since 2020.
As state auditor, Dougall is tasked with examining Utah’s finances and spending, a role he says — along with a decade as a lawmaker — has shown that he’s a “watchdog” for Utahns.
“Fiscal issues [are] my bread and butter — identifying waste, fraud and abuse, bringing transparency to where the money is going, and trying to rein it in,” Dougall told members of the media on Monday. “I spent years trying to keep the government off people’s backs and out of their wallets.”
While he also is focused on issues like national defense and border security, “at the end of the day,” Dougall said, “it all comes down to fiscal issues.”
Dougall faces more than a half-dozen other candidates including state Sen. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, former state Rep. Chris Herrod, founder and former CEO of SkyZone Case Lawrence, Roosevelt Mayor Rod Bird Jr., Stewart Peay, Clayton B. Hunsaker and Democrat Glenn Wright.
