Nicole Melling

Nicole Melling (Democratic Party) is running for election to the Utah House of Representatives to represent District 52. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. The Democratic primary for this office on June 23, 2026, was canceled.

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I love our part of Utah: the lake trails, the Tulip Festival, the rodeo. I am inspired by the intensity with which Utahns celebrate our patriotism and heritage. I want to ensure these blessings remain available to our children.

I feel like that is at risk of slipping away. As I see national ethics, norms, and institutions crumble, I kept looking to our local leaders to stand up– to say, “That is not okay.” One day early in January of this year it hit me. “Who do you think is going to do that if you aren’t willing?” That is why I am here.

I came from a small farm in Alabama to Utah State University and then BYU planning to be an elementary school teacher. After years of working nights as a nurse’s aide to pay for college, I decided to pivot and become a nurse. At Heritage Residential Treatment Center I was able to help youth build better lives, while also exercising leadership and improving the efficiency of systems so we could provide more services with a smaller budget.

In 2011, my husband and I moved to Lehi to raise our five children, a sibling group we adopted from foster care. One challenge we faced was a lack of providers who could meet the complex needs of children with trauma and their families. I decided to become a nurse practitioner to meet that need.

In my “spare” time I love to serve. I want to make things better and to help things grow: gardening, quilting, woodwork, leatherwork, basement re-models, teaching sunday school, volunteering at the temple.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Utahns are tired of their legislature not listening to them. At some point, our lawmakers started putting their own interests, and the interests of national parties and billionaires who keep getting them elected, ahead of the interests of the people: data centers, overturning prop 4, stripping protections off our national monuments, neglecting the Great Salt Lake, making it harder and harder for citizens to vote– these are not what Utah needs.

I believe very literally in Lincoln’s declaration “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Our representatives should be making our lives better, not the other way around. That is what I am willing to do for the people of my district.As a representative, my number one priority is to listen. I will have regular open office hours at least monthly in my district, and at my legislative office in Salt Lake while the legislature is in session. I will meet with you, listen to you, and respond to your phone calls and emails.

I commit to transparency. I will not utilize this office to enrich myself in ANY way. I will find ways to share with you what is going on behind the scenes at the capital. And I will call on you to help me understand how these laws affect you. I will ask you to come together with your expertise and experience to build, to inform, and to lift the community. This is our House. We can build it together.I never wanted to be a politician, but I believe in public service. With a family heritage of military service from the Revolutionary War to now, I grew up knowing that our right to vote–to self-determination as a people–is something worth dying for. We need representatives who represent the people.

As a nurse and a mom from a working class family, I want to build a future where Utah remains a beautiful, healthy place for our children. When I sit across from a child with special needs or a grandparent with a disability, cuts to Medicaid mean something very different than to a career politician. I want a legislature filled with regular citizens who can build a bridge between our humanity and our conservative financial principles.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Access to healthcare, housing and education give access to opportunity and hope. Where I grew up many people are stuck in the cycle of intergenerational poverty. I’ve seen the toll that takes on the quality of life in the community– safety, crime, health, and other resources. Utah is a place of opportunity.

Hard working families should not have to choose between rent and food. Retirees should not have to choose between groceries and medication. Utah teachers should have access to living wages that allow them to live in the communities they serve. Our leaders should be choosing citizens and communities over data centers, corporations, and partisan politics.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I love the biography of Helen Keller. For someone who did not have access to language until the age of 7, she is remarkably one of the most brilliant people I have read. She had passion and gratitude for language, learning, and life that inspired leaders around the world to reconsider human rights and the individual worth and value of people with disabilities. She spent her life expanding accessibility to education and other rights for blind and deaf people around the world.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

A representative should represent the people. That means listening to them and being available. When there is a question of priorities or a tough legislative decision, instead of listening to lobbyists or party leaders I will reach out to my neighbors and members of my community and make sure I understand what they value, what they need, and how the decision will impact them.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The core responsibility of this office is understanding and appraising legislation that is being proposed and how it will affect Utahns. I believe a core responsibility of legislating is finding win-win solutions that benefit not just business leaders and bank accounts but that protect the vulnerable in our families and in our communities.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I have grown up in a country where I was truly free. I could work 2 jobs and get ahead. I could speak truth to power and not fear political or legal retribution. I could call or write to my representatives and they cared what I had to say. I hope my legacy will be leaving that world behind for my children; a world where elections are won by inspiring principled leaders with integrity, not by donations from billionaires.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

As a young girl I dreamt about horses 24 hours a day. Our nearest neighbor (a couple of miles away) owned a riding school. My dad was retired army with 6 kids and my parents could not afford such luxuries. But, they sacrificed to send me for one year when I was about 12. After that year the wonderful neighbor who owned the school was kind enough to let me work on her farm in exchange for my lessons. In a couple of years I graduated from cleaning tack and picking pecans to helping younger students and training high spirited horses so they would be better for younger riders. The opportunity to work hard to do something I loved so much was a highlight of my life that I look back on with tremendous gratitude.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

One of the greatest challenges and the greatest fulfillments in my life has been raising our family of 5 children– a sibling group that we were blessed to adopt from Utah foster care in 2011. When you start with a “ready-made” family, all your expectations for what family life is “supposed” to look like have to go straight out the window. Every day is an exercise in surrendering expectations and seeing what is in front of you– seeing the need and finding a way to meet it.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

The governor, the legislature, and the courts are meant to balance one another's power and keep it in check. We need more of this balance. If party politics get carried away with what they want right now, this can lead to undermining that balance which is the foundation of our future democracy.

Example: What Utah did to weaken the judiciary (HB396/ HB366) in retaliation for upholding the Utah Constitution and the rights of citizens (prop 4).

This is dangerous. If our supermajority legislature did not feel invincible, they would realize that the balance of powers ensures our future NO MATTER what party is “in charge.” Undermining it for a short term power grab is like cutting up your foundation to make bricks for a firepit. It is tragically short-sighted.

In the past, Utah's republican party has included a variety of views and interests because they represented a variety of citizens from all over the state. But, the national party has become intolerant of disagreement, publicly attacking and rejecting leaders who stand up for their values and their constituents over party loyalty.

When one group has the power to unilaterally make decisions, we move closer and closer to tyranny.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Utah is at a crossroads. We will continue to grow. But, if we continue to “kick the can” down the road pretending that problems like running out of water and saving the great Salt Lake are just going to solve themselves, we are at risk of losing everything we have built.

The citizens of Utah are not dumb. We are not entitled. We are ready to face facts. We are ready to come together to find solutions. For some (partisan) reason, talking points and political finger pointing have become more popular than actual forward planning and problem solving. We have to come together as citizens and say, “No more.”

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Compromise is fundamental to policy making. A policy is how we decide a way to do something that “works” best for everyone. Compromise is the process of looking at the issue from multiple perspectives in order to design the best solution.

Being a successful policy-maker is not about getting what you want. It is about getting something better than you could have imagined from only one perspective.

The magic happens when you listen to gain a deep understanding of what the “other” side wants, needs, and believes. By honoring the divine worth of the “other” (instead of “I’m right. You’re wrong”) you become able to hold and honor multiple seemingly contradictory views/values at once. Solutions become possible that would not have been possible if either side had “won.” It takes humility. It takes time. It takes caring more about other humans than about winning.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Utah County Democratic Party

What was the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember?

After moving around a lot with my dad being in the Army, I grew up mostly in Alabama. I remember in 5th grade taking Alabama History and learning about George Wallace, the Alabama governor who was famous for standing to physically block the door of the University of Alabama to keep a black student from enrolling; whose most famous line was “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” And then learning that he was STILL the governor! It was a moment of disbelief. I did not understand the power of power, how someone who could have so publicly and famously stood for something so wrong could have never felt the accountability of the people in a democracy. I did not understand gerrymandering and entrenchment of political power. I just knew something was wrong with the system.