Orem, Utah – November 2nd, 2026
With a few days left to vote, only 3% of people under the age of 30 have voted. “If college students vote, you all would rule this place," said David Chappell, candidate for House District 63.
There was a candidate reform meeting for House District 63, which covers part of the Provo and Springville area. The candidates, Norman Thurston and David Chappell, met to discuss the issues facing Utah County. They talked about the housing crisis, water and data centers, and their stances on abortion.
To introduce the candidates, Representative Norman Thurston has served in the House since 2016. Thurston is an economist by profession and is from the Republican Party. Running against him is a democratic candidate, David Chappell. Chappell started campaigning around September 2025 at the Provo Farmer’s Market.
Housing Crisis
“I’ve worked with local governments to try to encourage them to allow for more building of starter homes … Builders are interested in doing this if we can just get zoning … requirements from local governments; then once we can get government out of the way, then markets should be able to work to be able to increase that supply,” said Thurston.
Chappell said, “Housing and affordability is definitely a crisis; it is the number one thing that comes up [when I am knocking] doors.”
“I also agree with Norm here on zoning reform, but … zoning reform is not enough. We need targeted affordable housing to be built so that we can solve the problem directly instead of waiting for the market to do it. We need to create more supply, so my rebuilding fund is for everyday people to build more units for sale,” stated Thurston.
Utah’s Great Salt Lake
The candidates were asked about the historic lows of the Great Salt Lake and the water crisis. “The Great Salt Lake is not a choice… There is no economic future of the Wasatch Front without the Great Salt Lake, and it will dry up if we don’t do something.” Chappell continued, “Something that gives me hope is that Utahns are the worst at water conservation…so we have a lot of room to grow”
Talking about the water crisis, Representative Thurston explained a law change that would help farmers use less water. “Farmers may not necessarily want to use all the water, but if they stop using it, they lose their place in line for the future to use it, so one of the things that we’ve been working on is to allow farmers to lease their downstream use of the water.”
Chappell said, “This issue is very unifying for all people, everyone in the legislature… I hope to work with Republicans and Democrats alike in order to solve this.”
Reproduction Rights Stance
When asked about his vision for reproductive rights, Chappell responded: “I would advocate for repealing that extreme abortion ban and I personally think that the government should not be involved in that decision…We really need to trust women and we need to trust doctors.”
“Good policy is to recognize that abortion is a violent heinous act. That taking a baby out of a mother’s womb is a villainous act and should be rare and very carefully thought about before it’s ever done. When would it be allowed…if you think about this conflict between a woman whose fetus…is going to take her life, we maybe need to talk about this… I don’t want to do our policy is that abortion as a means of birth control.” Thurston said.
More on this story
