Former Rep. Ben McAdams has formally launched his congressional campaign for Utah’s newly redrawn 1st District, marking the start of his highly anticipated comeback bid to return to Congress as the Beehive State’s only Democratic representative.
He won’t return to the Democratic Party he once knew. But he’s leaning on his moderate voting record and reputation as a bipartisan problem solver to win over his onetime constituents.
“I haven’t changed. People know that I’ll work with anyone to get results,” McAdams told the Deseret News in an interview ahead of his campaign launch. “I look forward to reminding Democrats why they trusted me in the past, and I really hope to earn their support in this race.”
McAdams will run for what will become Utah’s 1st District, which largely encompasses much of Salt Lake County and will heavily lean Democratic. Kamala Harris won the district by more than 20 percentage points in the 2024 election.
McAdams is no stranger to the district despite its boundaries being newly reconfigured. He represented much of the district as a state senator from 2009 to 2012 and served as mayor of Salt Lake County from 2013 to 2019. Then he was elected to Congress in 2018 in a district that covered much of the same ground.
“I think that I have deep relationships with community members, with city council members, mayors across this district,” he said. “And I have a lot of support.”
But the district McAdams once represented is different from the battleground he’ll face now.
When McAdams defeated former Rep. Mia Love in 2018, he won by fewer than 700 votes. He lost his reelection bid in 2020 by less than a percentage point. Now, he’ll run in a district that is rated “Solid Democratic” — and it could open the door for progressive candidates to challenge McAdams for the nomination.
McAdams could face crowded primary field
Despite being the most recent Democrat to represent Utah in Congress, McAdams could face a crowded field of candidates to his political left seeking to represent the district — especially with the heavy Democratic lean.
State Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Utah, already launched her campaign on Wednesday morning, making her the first Democrat to throw her hat in the ring. State Sen. Nate Blouin is also “strongly considering” a bid, he told the Deseret News.
While McAdams has previously breezed through party conventions to avoid formal primary elections, the former House member could face more of an uphill battle this time around.
“I believe that competition is good for democracy, and I’ve never run unopposed for a nomination and in any of the races that I’ve been in,” McAdams said. “But in this race, I look forward to reminding Democrats why they trusted me in the past, and I really hope for their support in this race.”
McAdams wants Democratic Party to be ‘more inclusive’
If elected, McAdams would be making his grand return to a party undergoing a perceived identity crisis. Since Democrats’ sweeping losses in 2024, the party has struggled to identify a single leader to guide them into the midterms — or even to decide on what their political messaging should be.
Part of McAdams’ appeal to Democratic and independent voters during his two previous campaigns was his moderate voting record and centrist political stance. It made him a strong candidate to both Democrats and independent voters.
“I am who I am,” McAdams told the Deseret News. “People have seen me as a problem solver that has solved problems in so many communities that are in this district. So I think I come in with a strong reputation as somebody who’s known and known to be a problem solver. That’s what’s more important than anything.”
But McAdams acknowledges that the Democratic Party must do better to expand its umbrella.
That call comes after Democrats from different corners of the party won their off-year elections last week in what was deemed a blue wave for a party very much in need of an energy boost. Candidates ranging from self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City to moderate Abigail Spanberger in Virginia garnered overwhelming support from their party — proving that Democrats must do more to appeal to a wider base, McAdams said.
“The message that I see for the Democrats out of the national elections is that Democrats need to be more inclusive,” McAdams said. “There are a lot of people who are upset with where things are, who think that Washington is broken and that government is broken.”
“Democrats, I think, need to have a message,” he added. “And that message is that we can make room for people within the Democratic coalition that have different points of view, that are in different places on the political spectrum.”
McAdams warns Trump is ‘trampling’ on democracy
McAdams’ previous term coincided with the first Trump administration, and if he returns, he’ll likely be expected to push back against the president for his mostly Democratic constituents.
The one-term congressman attributed the political atmosphere as part of his reasoning to run for reelection, lamenting that so much of the last year has been marred by political division. And Democrats, McAdams argues, haven’t done enough to fight back against what he views as bad policy.
“First of all, I would say Donald Trump, I think, has taken our democracy and taken our Constitution and trampled all over it,” McAdams said. “And I don’t see a lot of leaders stepping up in Washington to do anything about it.”
McAdams particularly pointed to concerns of affordability stemming from high inflation rates, pointing to his own experience with financial insecurity as motivation to find legislative solutions. McAdams said he grew up in a household that lived paycheck to paycheck and occasionally had its power shut off in between bill payment periods.
That firsthand experience, he argued, is currently absent from those running the country.
“I know that people are struggling, and right now, it seems like Washington has forgotten families like mine,” McAdams said. “They’ve forgotten what real life is like. They’re fighting and playing politics instead of doing basic things like making sure that kids have food and that we have health care that we can afford, and I think it’s cruel.”
“And I think people need somebody in Washington who will fight for them,” he added. “Not just fight for fighting sake, but someone who will fight and deliver results.”