This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The title of United States Representative is something that Chris Stewart takes very seriously. He sees it as his solemn duty to represent the interests and the views of his constituency, the 2nd Congressional District of Utah, not only in Washington, D.C., but to officials and emissaries of nations around the world.

In his soft-spoken way, Stewart has done that now for two terms in Congress and has earned another re-election.

It's not that the prolific author and former Air Force pilot has always done what others — including the people who write in this space — think was correct.

Stewart, in the eyes of many, is just another cog in the obstructionist machine that is the Republican majority in the House. In his sincere effort to take up the cause of Utahns — or, at least, some Utahns — he has been too quick to denigrate the federal agencies that exist to serve us, and all Americans. He is overly suspicious of such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management, and has tried to block both specific actions and ongoing powers.

But Stewart has also done his level best to carry some of the good of Utah to Washington and hope that others will profit by our example. At the top of that list is Stewart's desire to solve the ongoing controversy over immigration by applying the kind of compassionate compromise that Utah's leaders generally favor.

While activists to his left clamor for a path to citizenship for millions of people who are here without permission, and organizations to his right demand mass deportations, Stewart has stuck with a proposal that would grant legal residency — but not citizenship — to many of the estimated 11 million people in that situation. It is, he maintains, a compromise that would bring people out of the shadows while satisfying those who argue that people who have come here in violation of our laws — or who have, more frequently, overstayed their visas — should not be rewarded with the prize of full citizenship.

"I would never support the kind of security force that was capable of deporting 11 million people," Stewart says.

He reflects the views of his constituents in opposing any additional gun control laws, wisely adding that states need to step up the care they offer the mentally ill.

Stewart also offers a plan to save Social Security that would, unlike many of his fellow Republicans, raise the amount of personal income subject to the payroll tax.

Many Utahns, of course, would feel better about Stewart's path to a third term if he were more willing to fix the Affordable Care Act rather than end it, or if he were more concerned about climate change.

Stewart's main challenger this time around, Democrat Charlene Albarran, deserves praise for taking on the impossible task of challenging an incumbent in such a deeply red district. But many of her stands on issues from Social Security to gun safety are sufficiently fuzzy that voters of the 2nd District will likely see little reason to change their minds about who would best speak for them in Washington. And they will re-elect Chris Stewart.