Former Utah Rep. Ben McAdams announced a comeback bid Thursday, entering the Democratic primary for a new deep-blue seat that could test the appeal of his past moderate voting record.
“I’m ready to put it all on the line. I’ve done it before, to stand up against [Donald] Trump when it was hard, not just when it was expected,” McAdams said in a video launching his campaign for the 1st District.
His announcement comes days after a Utah judge picked a new congressional map, which creates a district anchored in Salt Lake City that Kamala Harris would have carried by 24 points, according to calculations by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. Earlier this summer, the judge had tossed out Utah’s current map — under which Republicans hold all four of the state’s House seats — ruling that it did not comply with anti-gerrymandering provisions in state law.
McAdams, the most recent Democrat to represent Utah in Congress, said the central message of his campaign would be addressing cost-of-living concerns.
“Too many Utah families are working harder than ever but not making ends meet. To Donald Trump and the D.C. elite, affordability is just a slogan,” he wrote on social media.
He won’t have the primary to himself. On Wednesday, state Sen. Kathleen Riebe entered the race, while another Democratic state senator, Nate Blouin, is considering a bid, according to the Deseret News. Riebe is making her second bid for Congress after losing a House special election in 2023.
McAdams has strong ties to the area, having previously served as Salt Lake County mayor and a state senator. A seventh-generation Utahn, he completed a Mormon mission in Brazil and practiced law in New York before moving back home to work on federal securities regulation compliance.
In 2018, he unseated Republican Rep. Mia Love by just 694 votes in what was then a red-leaning district as Democrats flipped the House during the so-called blue wave. In Congress, he was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and frequently broke with his party on partisan votes. He lost reelection in 2020 to Republican Burgess Owens.
“People who know me and my track record as a centrist and independent were concerned about the broader message of the Democratic Party,” McAdams said at the time, explaining his loss.
But that track record could be a potential liability against a more liberal opponent in a district where winning the primary would be tantamount to winning the general election.
“We’re very different people,” Riebe said of McAdams in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. “And I think that we just need a change. We are going backwards, and I don’t think that’s any place anybody wants to go.”
McAdams, though, told the Deseret News he was counting on his bipartisan record to help carry him through next year’s primary.
“I haven’t changed. People know that I’ll work with anyone to get results,” he told the newspaper.
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