‘Hate is an opportunity to educate and unite,’ says latest Utah Democrat to launch bid for Congress

Liban Mohamed (Photo by Abhiijith Harikumar, courtesy of the Liban for Congress campaign)

The response to Utah’s latest Democrat to jump into the crowded race for the state’s newly drawn 1st Congressional District was swift and widespread. 

Liban Mohamed’s campaign announcement video posted to X on Monday has since gained more than 2.2 million views. But many of the online responses to the video on the social media platform drew condemnation from the leadership of the Utah Democratic Party. 

“We take no position on Democratic nominees for CD1,” the Utah Democratic Party said in a post about Mohamed’s campaign video. However, it added: “The flood of racist and religious hate directed at Liban Mohamed is disgusting. Let’s be clear where it’s coming from: the racism and white fragility on display from Republicans across this state is dangerous and embarrassing.” 

We take no position on Democratic nominees for CD1.

The flood of racist and religious hate directed at Liban Mohamed is disgusting. Let’s be clear where it’s coming from: the racism and white fragility on display from Republicans across this state is dangerous and embarrassing. https://t.co/b5KB6OSwTx

— Utah Democratic Party (@UtahDemocrats) January 6, 2026

Many of the online responses to the video called for Mohamed to be deported. But Mohamed is a U.S citizen. He was born in Logan and raised in Ogden. His parents are Somali immigrants, who he said came to Utah in the ’80s to attend Utah State University during a time when the civil war in Somalia broke out. While they continued their education, they decided to stay and raise their family in Utah. 

“Utah was a place that treated them so well. A place that educated them. A place that accepted them. So they settled down here, they had their kids. So I was born here,” Mohamed told Utah News Dispatch in an interview Thursday. 

Mohamed, 27, is Black and Muslim, and he currently lives in Salt Lake City. He decided to launch a bid for Congress after he said some leaders from the Black and Muslim communities encouraged him to run. He said he felt a “moral obligation to step up and try my best to fulfill that calling.” 

In the days since his campaign announcement, Mohamed said he’s been focused on the positive response both on and offline — from the “people from communities that are entirely different from myself flocking in my defense.” 

He said his phone has “blown up” with messages from people asking how they can volunteer and support his campaign, “that they feel like I can be that person that re-instills their hope.” 

“When I saw all of this, I teared up, honestly,” he said. “Because my dream of what I could be has already begun to unfold (from) a single post. So I hope that I can live up to those expectations and be that person the community is yearning for.” 

Mohamed said he’s intent on focusing on real-world issues — like bringing down costs for housing, child care and health care — rather than the online vitriol.

“Hate is an opportunity to educate and unite, and we will find beauty behind the madness,” he said. “I think this virality is an example of our ability to galvanize the community.” 

Mohamed said he hopes the focus isn’t on the “horrible rhetoric I was facing, but the beautiful defense that thousands came behind me with.” 

Mohamed joins at least five other Democrats who have announced bids for Utah’s new 1st Congressional District, which under a court-ordered map is concentrated around the northern part of Salt Lake City, and is projected to lean heavily Democratic. 

Other declared Democratic candidates include Salt Lake City Council member Eva Lopez Chavez, state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, state Sen. Nate Blouin, former state Sen. Derek Kitchen, and Utah’s last Democratic congressman, former Rep. Ben McAdams. 

Most recently, Mohamed worked on TikTok’s public policy team, managing the company’s response to political investigations — a role he said he has resigned from in order to run for Congress. He also previously worked for Meta, where he focused on data center sustainability policies, and as a government relations director at the American Heart Association in Utah. 

He said he hopes to take his expertise in tech — and his perspective as a young American — to Congress to represent younger generations and act as “somebody who can work across the aisle while simultaneously holding true to their progressive values and their principles.” 

While many of the responses to his campaign announcement were “vile and instilled fear into our communities,” Mohamed said he also understands that people who use bigoted or racist rhetoric around immigration issues are often scared or frustrated with the same economic problems he wants to help tackle. 

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Anger and blame placed on immigrants, Mohamed said, “are coming from a place of struggle. There is a reality behind those frustrations, and that reality is what I want to fight for, which is making our community a community that has economic stability.” 

“We’re going to make this campaign a campaign about positivity, a campaign about policy, and fighting for the frustrations that are at the root of all of these different concerns, which are people’s pocketbooks,” he said. 

“But the pocketbooks are not being hurt because of immigrants or minorities,” Mohamed added. “Their pocketbooks are being hurt because they’re being exploited by the wealthy. They’re being paid low wages, because affording a roof over your head is becoming increasingly difficult. Because they’re one hospital trip away from bankruptcy. Because raising a family is harder than ever.” 

So, Mohamed said he’s going to “focus on the real fundamental issues that I believe are the underlying motive behind these frustrations, and not focus on the bigotry and all of the rhetoric that is nothing but a distraction.” 

Mohamed’s campaign announcement also came at a time when President Donald Trump has taken aim at Somali immigrants. Immigration enforcement agents increased their presence in Minnesota in recent weeks as part of a targeted campaign ordered by Trump to deport undocumented Somali immigrants.  

Report: ICE headed to Twin Cities targeting Somali immigrants

Additionally, earlier this month the Trump administration said states would need to provide “justification” proving that federal child care funds are being spent on “legitimate” entities. The comments followed fraud allegations in Minnesota related to the state’s child care programs, which were already being investigated by state and federal agencies but blew up following a YouTube video by a right-wing social media influencer. The allegations particularly targeted child care centers run by Somali citizens of the state.

Mohamed called the intersection of his campaign announcement and Trump’s rhetoric surrounding Somali immigrants a “matter of coincidence.” He said he decided to enter the race before Trump’s comments against Somali immigrants began ramping up.

While Mohamed said one part of the root of frustrations against immigrants can be traced to resource scarcity — leading people to think they have to “push out” immigrants — he said another part of the problem is the “permissive structure that Donald Trump and the MAGA movement has provided for people to feel so emboldened to openly be so vile.” 

“So I hope that the 2026 and 2028 (election) cycles put the cap on that permission structure so that people know that they have to be careful with their words and respect and love your neighbors,” he said. 

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