Utah’s last Democrat in Congress, Ben McAdams, is running again in 2026

(Photo courtesy of Ben McAdams campaign)

The last Democrat Utahns elected to Congress eight years ago is now jumping back into the fray. 

Former Congressman Ben McAdams — who also spent years as a state senator and Salt Lake County mayor before winning his competitive congressional bid in 2018 and narrowly losing reelection in 2020 — officially announced Thursday that he’s running for Utah’s newly-drawn 1st Congressional District in 2026.

McAdams said he has decided to return to the political arena because he’s never been more concerned “about where we are as a country.” 

“I can’t think of another time in my life where I’ve been more concerned about the direction of our country,” he said. “If I can do something about it, I’m not going to sit on the sidelines. I’m going to get in. I’m running for Congress.” 

Too many Utah families, he said in his campaign announcement Thursday morning, “are working harder than ever but still not making ends meet, and that’s a struggle I know personally.” 

Growing up in West Bountiful, McAdams said his family “didn’t have much.” He said his school teacher mom cared for him and his five siblings on a tight budget.

“My mom raised six kids, mostly on her own. We lived paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “I remember as a kid, sometimes our power was shut off because we couldn’t pay the bills. We needed help putting food on the table. And just over the last year, I think Washington seems to have forgotten families. They’ve forgotten what real life is like, and they’re just playing politics instead of, like, helping people to solve problems.” 

McAdams said he worries that hard-working families have reached a point where they can’t afford groceries, home ownership is unobtainable, and “rents keep going up and paychecks stay flat.” 

At the same time, McAdams said he can’t stand by while watching the fallout from President Donald Trump’s administration. 

“I see political enemies being prosecuted. The National Guard is being sent into the streets of our cities,” he said. “One hundred seventy American citizens have been falsely detained by ICE, not to mention the thousands of hard working, law-abiding immigrants who have been taken away from their families without any respect for due process.” 

Next year, Democrats hope to take back the majority in the U.S. House. And under the new congressional map ordered by 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson earlier this week, the state’s new District 1 is expected to lean heavily Democratic. Depending on how the party fares during the midterms, that means Utah could play a part in possibly tipping the political scales. 

McAdams said if elected, he’ll be eager to join in “checking” the executive branch — a “responsibility” he said Congress has “abdicated.” 

“In the blink of an eye, Donald Trump has taken our Constitution and trampled all over it,” he said. “I’m just worried that too many people in Congress are complacent or accomplices. And if I’m being honest, too many Democrats aren’t doing enough to stop it, either.” 

McAdams said especially over the last year, “too many things” have happened for him to stay on the sidelines. 

“I think it’s important, for the sake of our constitutional democracy, for Democrats to take back the House so Congress can take up its duty to be an independent check on the other branches of government,” he said. “So I hope that I have the opportunity to be part of a Democratic majority that is exercising its constitutional duty.” 

But “first of all,” McAdams said he’ll be focused on representing District 1 and Utah, “and being a voice for people in Utah who feel voiceless.” 

“I recognize that that’s going to be part of a broader, national conversation,” he said. “But my first priority is going to be on delivering solutions for the people of Utah.” 

Who is Ben McAdams?

Today, McAdams is a high-profile Utah Democrat with a long political career, having served as a state senator, Salt Lake County mayor, and one-term congressman.

From 2009 to 2012, McAdams represented District 2 in the Utah Senate (made up of Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake and West Valley). He was elected to be Salt Lake County mayor in 2013, where he stayed until he launched his bid for Utah’s 4th Congressional District in 2018. 

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That year, McAdams narrowly defeated the two-term Republican incumbent, then-Rep. Mia Love. But in 2020, he lost by slim margins to GOP challenger Rep. Burgess Owens. 

Since then, McAdams largely stepped out of the political spotlight but has stayed involved. He founded an organization called the Common Ground institute, which he said focused on “consensus building and policy solutions.” In that role, McAdams said most of his focus has been on “creating solutions for the housing crisis.” 

As a member of the National Housing Crisis Task Force, he said he’s been advising how cities, counties and other government entities can use publicly-owned real estate to help create affordable housing. 

For years McAdams has mostly kept a low profile, but he made headlines back in 2022 when he was a leading voice urging the Democratic Party to forfeit a Democratic nominee and instead back independent candidate Evan McMullin in an effort to unseat Republican Sen. Mike Lee. The party voted overwhelmingly to do so — but in the end, McMullin lost and Lee won. 

Collaborator or fighter? Both, McAdams says

Having previously run in a congressional district that was competitive but still tough to beat Republicans, McAdams has been known to be more of a moderate voice with a collaborative style. But the race for Utah’s newly drawn, heavily Democratic District 1 will likely be determined in the Democratic primary, which is already shaping up to be hotly contested. 

One of his opponents, Sen. Kathleen Riebe, announced her congressional bid just one day before McAdams. Riebe, in an interview with Utah News Dispatch on Wednesday, said she’s heard concerns of McAdams’ “support of independents,” and she argued what sets her apart from him is “Democrats want a Democrat. And they want a strong Democrat.” 

In response to criticisms about aligning with independents, McAdams said the main issue in that 2022 race was putting forth the “strongest candidate” that had the best shot at defeating Lee — and 75% of Democratic delegates agreed with his strategy to support McMullin. 

Though Riebe characterized herself as a “fighter,” McAdams said he, too, is not one to back down from a fight — but he also knows how to deliver results. 

“People who know me know that I am a fighter, and I am also a collaborator,” he said. “You know, I’ve never run unopposed for the nomination. Not when I ran for state Senate, not when I ran for mayor, and not when I ran for Congress. I look forward to reminding Democrats why they trusted me in the past, and I am hoping to earn their support for this race.” 

For the new District 1, McAdams said he feels he has the “home field advantage” because he’s represented its areas before and he has “deep relationships” across the district with community leaders and small business owners. 

McAdams added that “people trust me, not only because I fight for them, but also because I win.” 

In Congress today, McAdams said politicians have “forgotten what real life is like,” and they’re just focused on the “food fight.”

“People are in it to score points and land a zinger, and it doesn’t seem like anybody’s focused on solving problems,” he said. “I’m going to go back to Washington as a strong voice, as a fighter, but as somebody who knows how to also deliver wins.” 

He pointed to his work in the Utah Senate, when he helped convene groups to passage of statewide LGBTQ non-discrimination legislation, in addition to his work advocating for Medicaid expansion and homelessness reforms. 

In 2016, McAdams stood with then-Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and then-House Speaker Greg Hughes to call for partial Medicaid expansion, even though legislative Democrats wanting full expansion opposed the plan. At the time, McAdams said he knew “there were hundreds of people on a wait list that was eight months long, waiting to get treatment for addiction, and I wasn’t willing to play politics with people’s lives.” 

“So I stood proudly with somebody who was more liberal than me and somebody who was much more conservative than me, and we stood behind a solution,” he said. “So for me, I will build coalitions to get things done, and I will stand alone if that’s what I believe is right.” 

During his time in Congress, McAdams said he “stood alone” in the House when he voted to impeach Trump during his first presidency, even when he knew “it meant that I would lose my next election, but it was the right thing to do.” 

Throughout his political career, McAdams acknowledged that “people are welcome to criticize me for decisions that I’ve made, and I haven’t gotten everything right. But I hope people recognize that I stand for my convictions, and I’m going to make hard decisions if I believe it’ll make people’s lives better.” 

When asked about one issue he felt he didn’t get “right,” McAdams pointed to his “no” vote on the PRO Act in 2020 — legislation that aimed to strengthen workers’ rights to organize. At the time, McAdams said he “had concerns about how it treated gig workers” because he also represented Silicon Slopes and tech entrepreneurs. 

But today, McAdams said he would vote for it, “just because I think that tool, to have working people to have the ability to unionize and to organize in order to have their voices represented, is needed, especially in today’s world where the system is broken and doesn’t work for families like the family I grew up in.” 

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