As the 2026 election cycle hits its stride, incumbent Senator Brady Brammer is running on a record of technical, often high-stakes legislative heavy lifting. A business litigator with a Master’s in Public Administration from BYU, Brammer has spent the last eight years navigating the complexities of the House and Senate.
Energy and the Economy: A Longer Vision
Brammer has spent significant time on securing Utah’s energy future, particularly in fuel production. He is currently working on a multifaceted strategy to increase fuel production by 15-20% to stabilize prices against regional pressures.
- Refinery & Pipeline Strategy: This includes negotiating pipelines from Canada and utilizing Utah’s unique salt mines for fuel storage.
- Regional Pressure: As California closes refineries, demand from Las Vegas and Eastern Washington has driven prices up in Utah. Brammer’s goal is to decouple Utah’s supply from these external spikes.
- Mineral Wealth: Beyond fuel, he is focused on severance tax issues to prevent “boom and bust” cycles in the Uintah Basin and leveraging Utah County’s “critical minerals” to bolster the local economy to bring increased infrastructure dollars to our county so that we can avoid having these new industries increase congestion.
The “UVU Law” Push
One of Brammer’s most visible recent projects is the establishment of a law school at Utah Valley University. He argues that Utah’s economy has outpaced its legal infrastructure.
- Supply and Demand: “Utah has joined the national economy for lawyers,” Brammer notes, arguing that an increase in entry-level attorneys is necessary to keep pace with the state’s growth.
- The Future of Law: He believes AI will eventually handle the “task side” of legal work, leaving human attorneys to focus on high-level strategy.
Judicial Reform and the Redistricting Battle
Brammer’s most technical (and controversial) work resides in court reform. He has challenged the Utah Supreme Court’s productivity, noting they have one of the lowest opinion-output rates in the country.
- Measuring Success: He has pushed for objective metrics in JPEC (Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission) evaluations to ensure judges meet minimum productivity standards.
- Redistricting Defense: Addressing the recent “Prop 4” court battles, Brammer maintains a strict legalist view. He argues the court failed to follow the law and that the independent redistricting commission never submitted a map that complied with legal requirements.
Perspective on “Process” and Legal Disputes
Brammer’s approach to the legislative process has often been a point of contention for critics. A notable example involves a last-minute bill to block prepaid mail-in envelopes for signature removal—a move that occurred while the state was suing to invalidate such envelopes in an effort to keep a Prop 4 repeal off the ballot.
When questioned on whether this constituted “good process,” Brammer defended the move as a standard legal strategy. He maintains that it is the legislature’s role to settle ambiguities that cause legal disputes and that changing the law to ensure a specific legal outcome is a valid exercise of legislative power. In this instance, the repeal ultimately failed to reach the ballot despite the legislative change.
When pressed on what should happen if the legislature fails to submit a map the judge approves, he reluctantly said that it should revert to the previous map. When asked if he had advised any member of the legislature that this was the likely outcome, he didn’t respond.
Protecting the Next Generation
A father of five, Brammer has prioritized bills aimed at adolescent health and safety. He points to his bill banning flavored vapes as a success, citing a decrease in usage from 12.2% to 8.1%.
- Closing Loopholes: He is currently eyeing “Zyn” nicotine pouches, noting a high “reuse factor” and a trend toward flavors that target youth.
- Digital Guardrails: His platform includes continued focus on social media, pornography, and gambling—areas he deems essential to ensure “children aren’t graduating high school with an addiction.”
- AI and CSAM: Brammer successfully championed HCR 3, a resolution and subsequent legislative push to formally declare that Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) remains a vile violation of Utah standards even when generated by Artificial Intelligence. The bill ensures that the use of digital tools to create composite images of abuse is treated with the same legal severity as traditional materials.
Books Brammer said he has recently read or is currently reading:
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- Think Like a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci
- In Pursuit of Happiness by Jeffrey Rosen
Senator Brammer insisted that sources of criticism and his own concerns about his opponent be included.
Criticism sources
Utah State Bar: Position on Package of Bills Affecting Utah Courts – Detailed breakdown of opposition to judicial retention and sentencing commission changes.
KSL News: Legislature Makes Late-Night Election Bill Change Targeting Signature Removals – Cov/erage of HB 242 and the reaction from Better Boundaries.
News From The States: Faced with More Lawsuits, Utah Lawmakers Move to Change Their New ‘Constitutional Court’ – Reporting on the “Constitutional Court” trigger and the $1,500 filing fee controversy.
KSL News: Lawmaker Proposes Making it Harder for Courts to Halt Potentially Unconstitutional Laws – Analysis of SB 204 and concerns regarding the balance of powers.
TownLift: Utah Redistricting Committee Selects Congressional Map – Details on SB 1011 and the partisan bias tests introduced by Brammer.
Concerns About Kelly Smith: Distinctions Worth Knowing (By Brady Brammer)
In a recent Utah County Republican Party debate, Kelly agreed with Brady on nearly every question, but there are some important distinctions.
- Tax Philosophy & Personal Bankruptcy: Smith wants local governments to have no limits to incur public debt, even when those voters have already said, “NO” on other public bond votes. Brammer felt that a $200 million limit still provided plenty of room for local governments to manage emergency funding but felt that guardrails would protect against abuse; afterall, the public must still pay for that debt eventually on their tax bills. At the same time, Kelly Smith should explain her personal bankruptcy in 2002 before voters entrust her with managing a $31 Billion budget.
- Kelly’s Pleasant Grove Problem: Kelly organized and led the Central Interlocal & carried the decision to keep Pleasant Grove out of the Central Interlocal; she also sped up the process and moved Cedar Hills’ May 1 meeting to April 29 so that her preferred school district configuration would have priority by getting to the Utah County Clerk’s office before the Alpine School District. “City Council member Kelly Smith explained that doing an interlocal agreement allows the cities that would create a new district to vote together but not with the entire district. Smith said if Alpine School District was to put a split on the ballot, everyone in the district would get to vote on if and how the district splits. However, by doing an interlocal agreement, certain cities can vote together to split without the input of other cities in the district.” (Quoted from Daily Herald article, linked here)
Author’s Note
I have hesitated to include this part and have done so as Senator Brammer insists that he objects to this article and didn’t want it published. I am happy to include that, links to criticism of his legislation and his criticism of his opponent, in his own words. But I am going to also include some context around that.
Before either candidate was interviewed, the Nicki Brammer told me that she was concerned I couldn’t write a fair article about her husband as we disagree on Prop 4. After Smith’s article came out, she publicly accused me of being unfair among other things, while complaining how unfair the AF Citizen article was. Brammer also expressed these concerns. After interviewing Brammer, I sent him the article to make sure things were accurate. He had some minor things for me to fix and also tried to remove whole sections around some of his controversial judicial bills and last-minute moves regarding the prop 4 repeal.
Both him and his wife insisted that all of the sections of the article be the same, even writing a version of the article for me, while at the same time heavily implying that I was being unethical. Senator Brammer requested I include the following statement: “Please include a statement that I disputed the accuracy of what you wrote.” When I asked for specific factual inaccuracies—after I had already adjusted subjective descriptions regarding his negotiation style—his response was simply, “Your accusations are inaccurate.”
In over ten years of interviewing roughly 100 candidates, I have spent 10 to 20 times longer on this profile than any other. I have never had a spouse involve themselves in this manner, and only once before has a candidate attempted to exert this much control over the final text. However, I stand by my mission to provide the public with accurate, unvarnished information about those seeking to represent us, including this.