“I’m excited and I’m looking forward to this opportunity to be a voice on the state level, and to represent northern Utah Democrats to the best of my ability,” Rhodes said.

With her new role, Rhodes said she will not only serve as a resource to Democratic Party chairs throughout the county, but she will be a voting member of the state party’s Executive Committee.

Her prior experience in social work is something Rhodes believes will benefit her when advocating for Democrats throughout the state, but specifically in northern Utah, an area she feels was lacking representation within the Utah Democratic Party.

“Being a social worker, I feel like my role is advocacy, anyway,” Rhodes said. “That’s one of the main things that I do within my job and this is just advocating for the county parties, which is not much different than what I’m used to.

“I felt like it would be a good fit for me, the more I thought about it, and I also liked the idea of having a representative on the state Executive Committee that is in northern Utah.”

The Box Elder County-native said northern-Democrats have been working really hard to turn a traditionally red area to more of a purple hue. She also feels a shift within the state has started happening.

“People are fired up and they’re saying, ‘OK, the best way to change what we’re unhappy about in our state is to support our candidates and to put out good candidates, and to provide more advertisement and opportunities for those candidates to know what’s going on in their community,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes cited the work of Nancy Huntly, now the Cache Democrats co-coordinator of community outreach, and Patrick Belmont, who both ran for state offices last year. Huntly ran as a Democrat and Belmont as a nonpartisan.

“I think you see a lot more community engagement and you’re seeing that with the nonpartisan group that Nancy Huntly and Patrick Belmont are leading right now, where more and more people are showing up (to their meetings),” Rhodes said.

Belmont was close to diluting the red in Cache County last year, but was ultimately defeated by just north of seven percentage points by now-Rep. Jason Thompson. Sen. Chris Wislon dispatched Huntly by more than 40 percentage points.

With the Cache Democrats adding new leadership positions in May, Rhodes is confident she will be able to continue fulfilling her county duties, while becoming a resource for the entire state.

Rhodes said the thought to run for a state position hadn’t entered her mind until a member reached out to her and expressed their approval of what she had been doing in Cache County.

“I hadn’t really thought about it until they had approached me about it, and then I started thinking about what I could offer the position,” Rhodes said. “Really, within the Democratic Party, there’s a lot of new leadership this year… I think they were really encouraging somebody who has been in this position for a little bit to be the one to do it.”

While each county party’s needs can differ, Rhodes said she will attempt to be a resource for all 29.

For more information on Cache Democrats, visit cachedemocrats.org. For more information on the Utah Democratic Party, visit utahdemocrats.org.