Kaysville Mayor Tami Tran is running for the Utah Senate District 6 seat on a pitch that state lawmakers need someone who has managed a city budget before casting votes that affect one.

Tran, a Republican, is one of three candidates on the Tuesday, Nov. 3, ballot to replace Sen. Jerry Stevenson, who is retiring. Democrat Jared Neal and Forward Party candidate Josh Smith are also in the race. The district covers west Davis County cities including Kaysville, Syracuse and Clearfield, along with Antelope Island and Farmington Bay, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Tran won the Republican primary in June with about 71% of the vote, collecting 8,090 votes to Robert Wanlass's 3,340, the Standard-Examiner reported.

In a candidate survey published Oct. 23 by the Standard-Examiner, Tran said she has spent close to a decade in Kaysville city leadership managing growth, housing, water and transparency. She has served as mayor for five years and previously sat on the city council and planning commission, according to the Standard-Examiner's May 2026 profile.

Her central argument is that bills passed on Capitol Hill carry costs cities have to absorb. In the survey she wrote: "I have seen that from the mayor's office, when a proposal that sounded right put real pressure on a city budget and on the people who have to live with the result."

Tran pointed to a microschool bill as an example. As she described it in a May interview with the Standard-Examiner, the legislation allowed a school of up to 100 students in any residential zone. In Kaysville, that meant a potential program at the end of a dead-end street with up to 200 car trips per day. Tran said she called her state representative, Rep. Ariel Defay, who opened a bill file and worked to get the measure amended.

On housing, Tran told the Standard-Examiner in May that government should step back and let private industry drive the market. She said interest rates, not government programs, are the main barrier to affordability. If the state does offer grants, she said, the money should be available for remodeling existing homes, not only for new construction.

Tran listed limited government, low taxes, public safety, parental authority and local control as her core priorities in the Oct. 23 survey. She said she would work with her Republican caucus but would push back when a bill hurts cities, families or small businesses in the district.

Beyond city hall, Tran has chaired the Davis Technical College Board of Trustees for the past year. Davis Tech President Darin Brush presented her with the college's President's Award at an October luncheon, as the Davis Journal reported Oct. 8. Brush said Tran served on the board for five years.

Tran did not respond to the Salt Lake Tribune's candidate questionnaire, published Oct. 12. Her positions on Great Salt Lake water policy and the constitutional amendments on the November ballot are not in available public statements.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.