Early Life and Career

Cheryl Acton was born and raised in Kansas before moving to Arizona for her senior year of high school. She lived in northern Denmark for a year as a Rotary Youth Ambassador, then arrived in Utah to begin her freshman year at BYU. Awed by Utah’s scenic beauty and its wonderful people, she takes enormous pride in her adopted home state.

After graduating from BYU with a B.A. in English, Cheryl worked as a law librarian while her husband finished graduate school. She has also worked for the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Defense, where she earned the Meritorious Service Award. She’s been a freelance writer and editor, an independent contractor, an internet researcher, a newspaper reporter, and a classroom volunteer, but in her heart, she’s always been a teacher.

Family and Motivation to Serve

Cheryl and her husband, Scott, have occupied the same home in West Jordan for 26 years. Over an 11-year span touching three decades and two millennia (1989-2000), they had two sons and two daughters, all four of whom have graduated from universities in Utah. As a family, they accomplished the goal of traveling together to all 50 states.

Cheryl has many hobbies and interests, including writing, traveling, current events, history, quote collecting, and photography. She is endlessly fascinated by people, nature, and animals.

Cheryl was motivated to run for office by a desire to restore and preserve freedom, which, in her view, has been eroding over her lifetime. Cheryl believes in the worth and dignity of individuals (including the unborn) and families and their right and ability to govern their own affairs. She also believes that, for the good of the Republic, civility, wit, and wisdom must return to politics, because endless contention drives many good people away from the political process.

Cheryl believes that while other elected titles (senator, governor, etc.) have lost their original meaning, “Representative” is unambiguous. It describes perfectly her role as a voice for the people of District 38.