There are a lot of similarities between Ben McAdams’ primary win on Tuesday and his first House election in 2018.
Donald Trump is in the White House, and Democrats have a real shot at winning the majority in the House in November’s midterm elections.
But the reality is far different this time around, McAdams says. It’s more urgent.
“I’ve never been more worried about the direction of the country than I am right now,” McAdams told the Deseret News in an interview. “The same was true in 2018 when I was elected to Congress. But I think the circumstances that we’re facing now make 2018 look quaint.”
Although it is similar, there are also stark differences. McAdams, a moderate, would be returning to a different Democratic Party than the one he left after being defeated in 2020.
On the same night this week that McAdams defeated a trio of progressive challengers, candidates from the democratic socialist wing of his party won big in New York — unseating a handful of establishment Democrats.
Also, his district doesn’t look the same. When McAdams won in 2018, the district he represented was considered a tossup, and he defeated former Republican Rep. Mia Love by just 694 votes.
Now, if he wins in November, he’ll represent a deeper blue district in an otherwise red state. A district Kamala Harris would have won by 24 percentage points in the 2024 election, but also a district that did not want to embrace a progressive candidate like those winning in blue states.
But that varying ideological spectrum among Democrats gives the party an advantage, McAdams says — and it should be embraced.
“I think we need to recognize that New York is going to elect a different type of Democrat than places like Utah and Colorado and Arizona,” McAdams said. “The Democratic Party should not be imposing purity tests on other parts of the country. The challenges are different in different parts of the country, the priorities will differ, and I think we need to stop trying to dictate who should be elected from different parts of the country and let the voters choose who they want to represent them.”
Why McAdams thinks 2026 is more dire than 2018
Heading into this year’s midterm elections, Democrats are facing the same headwinds they did in 2018. Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress.
But Democrats, like they did back then, have a real chance to flip the House back into their control. And it comes at a time when the political landscape is far more dire now than it was just eight years ago, according to McAdams.
“Donald Trump is ordering the prosecution of his political opponents, sending ICE into the streets to harass American citizens,” he said. “People are concerned about what efforts he might take to overturn elections in the fall, so the situation is very serious. And I think this is a time for somebody who will step up and be a voice.”
Trump’s second administration has differed from his first in many ways, particularly in how the president has utilized his executive power. Less than a year into his second term, Trump had already approved more executive orders than he did in his entire first term.
In some cases, the president has sought to circumvent Congress’ authority by attempting to unilaterally freeze or cut spending already approved by lawmakers. Trump also took military action without first seeking congressional approval, as several presidents before him have as well.
But that seizure of authority isn’t so much Trump going around Congress, McAdams argues. Instead, lawmakers have “acquiesced” their constitutional duties — and Democrats must reclaim that, he said.
“Congress constitutionally is empowered to be an independent check, and this shouldn’t be Republican (versus) Democrat,” McAdams said. “This should be legislative branch and executive branch, and they have an important role. The first place that Congress should exercise this role is in the power of appropriation.”
Under the Constitution, Congress is given what is colloquially called “the power of the purse.” Lawmakers draft and approve the annual budget for federal departments and agencies, a power that has been strained over the last year as the Trump administration has withheld some funding or requested funding through alternative means.
Democrats have lamented those decisions, accusing Trump of freezing federal money that has already been appropriated by Congress while implementing spending cuts elsewhere. But in a potential Democratic House majority, McAdams says the party should use those must-pass appropriations bills to replenish areas they feel have been drained.
“People can’t afford their healthcare, and we had the healthcare subsidies that was such an important tool to help people be able to afford healthcare on the exchange and I think restoring those subsidies is an important step,” McAdams said. “There’s a lot that I think Congress can do just through the power of appropriations to send solutions to the American people who are really struggling today.”
Now is the time for the Democratic Party to decide ‘who it wants to be’
As Democrats approach the midterm elections, McAdams said the party is reaching an inflection point — especially as they search for a central identity amid conflicting factions.
“I do think that this is a moment for the Democratic Party to decide who it wants to be,” McAdams said. “For me, I think we need to be a party that prioritizes solutions for the people who are counting on us above anything else. That’s the message I’m going to be taking to Washington.”
So even though, if he makes it back to Congress, McAdams won’t always fall in line with his progressive colleagues from New York or elsewhere, the Utah Democrat said his perspective would be just as important to finding compromises.
“If you want to get something done as a Democrat in Utah, you have to have creative ideas that can transcend differences and bring solutions that will provide support for the people who are counting on us,” McAdams said. “We have to walk and chew gum. We have to simultaneously be a party of solutions that can prove to the American people that we’ve earned the privilege of governing by proposing solutions that can garner support and get across the finish line.”
And being a Democrat in a red bastion like Utah gives him an edge that other members of his party would rely on, he predicts.
“Being a Democrat in one of the most conservative states in the country has really been a proving ground for me to develop the skills to build coalitions to work across differences,” McAdams said.