Eva Lopez Chavez launches congressional campaign, centering queer, Latina, working-class roots

Openly lesbian Salt Lake City Council member Eva Lopez Chavez announced a run for Congress, launching her campaign with a deeply personal message about family, survival, and fighting for communities long left out of political power.

“My name is Eva Lopez Chavez. We didn’t have a lot growing up,” she says in the announcement video posted to Instagram. “I literally shared a bed with my grandma until I was 16 years old.”

She recalls making two promises to her grandmother:

“One, that I would buy her a house for both of us to live in, and two, that I would fight for people that share our story.”

That commitment, she said, is what pushed her into the race.

“Now, as we face crisis after crisis, we must say to each other, enough is enough,” Lopez Chavez said. “That’s why I’m running for Congress to stop the cycle and defend our communities.”

Lopez Chavez made history in 2023 as the first elected Latina Mexican American to the Salt Lake City Council and the youngest elected official at City Hall. In her campaign launch, she framed that experience as preparation for the national stage, saying that ”fighting for working-class families is a daily practice.”

Her campaign priorities include housing affordability, reproductive rights, environmental protection, and pushing back against what she describes as policies that favor the wealthy at the expense of everyday Utahns.

“This isn’t just about solving the affordability crisis or lowering the price of eggs,” she said. “This is about us. This is about defending our families, our environment, and our district’s future.”

Lopez Chavez positioned herself as part of a new generation of leadership, sharply critical of corporate influence and government overreach.

“We need a fighter, someone that understands that state overreach and billionaire tax breaks hurt us, not help us,” she said. “It’s time for the next generation of leadership, and I’m ready to step up.”

Environmental stewardship also featured prominently in her announcement.

“The Wasatch Mountains and our Great Salt Lake,” she said, naming what she called Utah’s “greatest resources” and vowing to protect them for future generations.

Throughout the video, Lopez Chavez repeatedly returned to her upbringing and identity as a source of strength.

“I’ve been fighting my whole life to help mi familia, and my community,” she said. “Because standing up to bullies is exactly what my mama taught me.”

Her congressional bid builds on a political career that has consistently focused on LGBTQ visibility and belonging. During her successful run for Salt Lake City Council, Lopez Chavez spoke explicitly about the importance of queer representation in local government.

“Salt Lake City is a place for everybody,” she said at the time. “We need to have and practice values that care about LGBTQ people every day here in Salt Lake City. It’s important that we have queer representation as an individual that’s part of the LGBTQ community.”

She emphasized Salt Lake City’s role as a hub for queer life in Utah and the broader region.

“In Salt Lake City, we have the largest Pride festival,” she said. “This is the city that brings our queer families and communities together. I’m here to protect the safe spaces where you choose to be you.”

Calling the city “an oasis in the west,” Lopez Chavez added, “It’s a place for all LGBTQ people to come and visit or make it your home.” She punctuated that message with “We say gay here in Utah. Now we do.”

In a 2024 profile by SLUG Magazine, Lopez Chavez described her leadership style as rooted in “belonging” and relationship-building, an approach shaped by her lived experience as a queer Latina navigating systems not designed for her. That same philosophy underpins her congressional campaign, which she says is about collective power rather than individual ambition.

“I thank my neighbors for not thinking once that a queer Latina wasn’t good enough to represent them. They believed I was exactly who should represent them,” she told SLUG. “Queerness is a superpower. It gives you a lens on the world that most people only find through deep meditation or insight.”

“I’m ready to take on the fight,” Lopez Chavez said in her announcement. “Fulfill the promise I made to my abuelita and defend Utah’s future. Our future.”

For more information, visit evaforutah.com