The Utah Way: Surprise! "Red" States Can Think for Themselves
Stereotypes Are Lazy. And Wrong.
I’ve worked in newsrooms in elite coastal cities, and let me tell you: Nobody does stereotyping as well as a “liberal” editor. There’s this tired old myth that coastal media elites cling to, that the so-called “red states” are just empty brain space between New York and LA. To them, places like Utah and Texas are little more than MAGA theme parks, where everyone’s busy polishing their AR-15s and toothlessly yelling about drag queen story hour as they shuffle through Walmart in camo Crocs and a Jesus-bedazzled thong.
But real life? Not even close.
Utah Just Broke the Narrative
More than 20,000 people packed into the University of Utah to hear Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on April 13. Yes, Utah—that same state Trump won by more than twenty points. That crowd wasn’t a fluke. It was a statement. As the Salt Lake Tribune put it, it was a "massive crowd" that defied the state’s red reputation (Tribune, Apr 14, 2025).
Deseret News also admitted the turnout was bigger and more impressive than Bernie’s LA stop the day before. (Deseret News, Apr 13, 2025.) That’s right—Utah out-Bernied LA. Let that marinate.
Fox 13 News reported people were waiting outside because the venue was over capacity (Fox 13, Apr 13, 2025). One attendee summed it up: “The turnout is fantastic. Who would've thought?”
Who indeed? Well, people who live in red states. That’s who.
Enter: "The Utah Way"
So how did this happen in so-called “deep-red” territory? One clue: something locals call “The Utah Way.” Coined by former Gov. Gary Herbert, it means civil discourse, bipartisan cooperation, and solving actual problems instead of screaming about bathrooms or banning books (Salt Lake Tribune, 2021).
Basically, it’s politics for grown-ups. You know, that endangered species.
Utah expanded Medicaid. They passed humane immigration reforms via the Utah Compact. They even led on housing-first approaches to homelessness. These are progressive policies pushed by folks who don’t necessarily identify as progressive. That’s the Utah Way in action: Do what works. Don’t be a jerk.
Texans Know How This Feels
Meanwhile, back in Texas, the GOP has had to gerrymander, suppress votes, and cheat harder than a frat boy on finals week just to cling to power. Why? Because the far-right Christofascists in power here don’t actually represent most Texans. It is a mistake to think they do. If every eligible voter had easy, fair access to the ballot box, Greg Abbott would be working the drive-thru at Whataburger by now.
And the people know it. Just like in Utah, working-class Texans—Black, white, brown, rural, urban—are sick of the culture-war kabuki theater and ready for real solutions: jobs, healthcare, housing, schools. Not another news cycle about Mr. Potato Head’s eyelashes.
Bernie, AOC & Casar Are the Canaries in the Coal Mine
When Bernie, AOC, and Texas congressman Greg Casar can draw tens of thousands of people in red states on the Fight Oligarcy tour, that’s not a weird fluke—it’s a signal. Americans, regardless of zip code or hat color, mostly want the same things: economic dignity, safety nets, freedom from corporate chokeholds, to stop seeing photos of a zombie-eyed Elon Musk wearing his poor child as a shield.
The GOP’s actual policies—once you look past the circus—are anti-worker, anti-family, anti-clean-air-and-water, and deeply anti-American. They're designed to serve billionaires, not the rest of us. And people are waking up. Even in Utah. But also Texas.
Especially in Texas.
We Are Not Monoliths
This whole idea that the country is divided into two neat ideological color blocks? Total fiction. Places like Utah prove it. People aren’t red or blue. They’re human. They’re complicated. And most of them are just trying to survive late-stage capitalism with some damn dignity.
The Utah Way reminds us that solutions don’t have to come from screaming heads on TV, or rage-bait algorithms. Sometimes, they come from unlikely places. Quietly. Efficiently. With common sense and decency.
And that gives me hope.
It should give you hope, too.
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Thanks, y’all. I’ll see you in the comments (unless you're mean—then I’ll see you in hell 🥰).
I'm from Utah and yes whenever it's possible to actually have a real conversation about political issues with someone, we tend to align on policy. It's the emotional reactiveness we've all been programmed with by the billionaire class that keeps us from hearing each other. Utah wants to protect it's families. Can't convince families that themselves rely on SNAP, CHIP, and Medicaid, that the only people those benefits are for are those illegal aliens staying in 5 star hotels on our dollar. They don't want that stuff taken away. They just want the actual waste, fraud, and abuse taken out of our government.
That said, this quote: "Utah and Texas are little more than MAGA theme parks, where everyone’s busy polishing their AR-15s and toothlessly yelling about drag queen story hour as the shuffle through Walmart in camo Crocs and a Jesus-bedazzled thong" isn't an entirely inaccurate image.
Although I don't think the Mormons are supposed to bedazzle their underwear... 🤔😂
You make this Canadian want to go see Texas, Alisa! And I have a few other awesome Texans in my Substack feed too. Have you seen the tv show Somebody Somewhere? Such a beautiful show and gave me a whole new appreciation of the diversity in a place like Kansas. I mean, I know it's fiction, but the biggest fiction of all is the claim that any place is homogeneous or entirely ruled by ideology. Signs of life and resistance are everywhere!