BIOGUIDE M001209 · FEC H8UT04053
Ben McAdams
Former U.S. Representative, Utah's 4th District (2019-2021)D
- Race
- U.S. House · Utah's 1st District
- Result
- Ben McAdams, projected winner
- Opponents
- Riley Owen (R); Jesse West (LIB); Elias Montgomery (IND)
- Research
- Basic
Party line3 votes tracked
Broke with Democrats on
- Raise the Wage Act — House passage voted no
With party = voted the same way as most Democrats who voted.
Said vs. did5 statements · 3 votes
Decisions about abortion should be made by a woman, her doctor, and the people she trusts, not politicians.
Protect legal access to abortion
Compare statements with votes ›On the ballotU.S. House · 1
2026-11-03
| Ben McAdams D | challenger |
| Riley Owen R | challenger |
| Jesse West LIB | challenger |
| Elias Montgomery IND | challenger |
Won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary with 51.9% of the vote (29,737 of 57,295 votes, certified results per Ballotpedia)
Said vs. did
Each documented position next to the recorded floor votes we map to the same issue. Votes are compared one at a time; no overall stance is inferred from them.
Decisions about abortion should be made by a woman, her doctor, and the people she trusts, not politicians.
Says decisions about abortion should be made by a woman, her doctor and the people she trusts, not politicians, and supports codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law.[5]
No recorded floor vote in our key-vote set maps to this issue.
Opposes current ICE enforcement practices, calling for a system "rooted in constitutional protections," and supports a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and other immigrants.
Documented position[5]
- YESAmerican Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R. 6, 2019-06-04).[6]
Says he opposes tariffs he attributes to the Trump administration, arguing they raise grocery and everyday costs for Utah families.
Documented position[5]
No recorded floor vote in our key-vote set maps to this issue.
Calls climate change "an existential threat" and supports expanding clean energy and modernizing the electrical grid.
Documented position[5]
No recorded floor vote in our key-vote set maps to this issue.
Says he will work to increase housing supply and cut red tape that drives up housing costs.
Documented position[5]
No recorded floor vote in our key-vote set maps to this issue.
No statement on this issue in our sources.
- YESBipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R. 8, 2019-02-27), which would have required background checks on most private gun sales.[7]
No statement on this issue in our sources.
- NORaise the Wage Act (H.R. 582, 2019-07-18).[8]
Biography
Democrat Ben McAdams won the election for Utah's open 1st Congressional District on November 3, 2026, defeating Riley Owen, according to unofficial results, and is set to take office when the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2027. A Utah native and attorney, he served in the Utah State Senate, as Salt Lake County Mayor (2013-2019) and for one term as U.S. Representative for the 4th District (2019-2021), losing re-election in 2020. He won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary.[1][2][3][4]
Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.
Ben McAdams was born December 5, 1974, in West Bountiful, Utah.[3] He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah in 2000 and a law degree from Columbia Law School in 2003.[1][3] McAdams began his legal career as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, according to Wikipedia, then returned to Utah and practiced securities law at Dorsey & Whitney in Salt Lake City. He later served as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah School of Law.[1][3]
McAdams worked as a senior advisor to Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, per Wikipedia, and his campaign website cites that role and his work on a Salt Lake City LGBT non-discrimination ordinance.[3][9] He represented District 2 in the Utah State Senate from 2008 to 2012, after winning a special election to replace Scott McCoy, and left the Senate when he was elected Salt Lake County Mayor in 2012.[1][3][10] He served as mayor from January 2013 to January 2019 and won re-election in 2016.[1][3]
In 2018 McAdams was elected to Utah's 4th Congressional District, defeating Republican incumbent Mia Love. He served from 2019 to 2021 on the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and lost re-election in 2020 to Burgess Owens by under one percentage point, per Wikipedia.[1][3] After leaving Congress he worked as CEO of Propvizer and the Common Ground Institute and as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Sorenson Impact, and has also been affiliated with Utah's Promise and the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund.[1] McAdams announced his candidacy for the redrawn 1st District in November 2025, after a court ordered Utah's congressional map redrawn. He lost the April 25 Democratic convention to Liban Mohamed, 51.5% to 48.5% on the final ballot, but gathered signatures to reach the primary, which he won on June 23, 2026 with 51.9% over Nate Blouin, Mohamed and Michael Farrell.[1][3][11][10] During the campaign, he emphasized affordability, opposition to Trump administration immigration enforcement tactics, and defending democratic institutions.[2] McAdams won the November 3, 2026 general election with 70.1% of the vote to Riley Owen's 26.2%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[4]
Recent votes
| Date | Party line | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-07-18 | Against partyvoted no | Raise the Wage Act — House passageH.R. 582 · Passed 231–199 · roll call ↗Democrats 228–7 · Republicans 3–192 |
| 2019-06-04 | With partyvoted yes | American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 — House passageH.R. 6 · Passed 237–187 · roll call ↗Democrats 230–0 · Republicans 7–187 |
| 2019-02-27 | With partyvoted yes | Bipartisan Background Checks Act — House passageH.R. 8 · Passed 240–190 · roll call ↗Democrats 232–2 · Republicans 8–188 |
On the record
Official actions: bills, executive acts, filings and court records.
- vote2019-12-18 · As a U.S. Representative (116th Congress), voted to impeach President Trump on both articles of impeachment in December 2019.[12][13][14]
- vote2019-05-17 · Voted for the Equality Act (H.R. 5), which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; passed the House 236-173.[12][15]
- vote2020-07-22 · Voted for the Great American Outdoors Act, which permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund.[12][16]
- actionAs Salt Lake County Mayor, created the Office for New Americans and launched the United for Citizenship Initiative to help permanent residents become U.S. citizens.[5]
In their own words
Priorities
- Lowering costs for working families: opposes tariffs he says are driving up grocery and everyday prices, wants to expand affordable housing supply, and lower health care costs.[5]
- Says he will oppose what he describes as ICE's "lawless and dangerous raids" and work to "dismantle the current enforcement model that relies on fear and indiscriminate raids."[5]
- Defending democracy and the rule of law, including opposing what he calls the weaponization of the Justice Department, and protecting public lands including the Great Salt Lake.[5]
Campaign money$2.3M raised · 91% from individuals · FEC through 2026-06-30
Totals this cycle
Bars share one scale (raised = full). Cash on hand can include money carried over from earlier cycles.
Who gave
- Individuals $2.0M
- PACs & committees $193K
Largest committee contributions
- Ameripac: the Fund for a Greater America PAC$10K
- SKIPAC PAC$10K
- SD PAC PAC$10K
- National Association of Realtors Political Action Committee PAC$10K
- Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. PAC (AKA Bread Financial PAC) PAC$10K
- American Bankers Association PAC (Bankpac) PAC$10K
- American Association for Justice Political Action Committee (AAJ PAC) PAC$10K
- New York Life Insurance Company Political Action Committee PAC$10K
- New Democrat Coalition Action Fund PAC$5,000
- Ca Luv PAC (California Leadership United for Victory PAC) PAC$5,000
Direct contributions only; outside spending is not included. Individual donors are itemized in the FEC’s receipts. All itemized receipts ↗ FEC filing ↗
Profile: /people/ben-mcadams-ut
Compare all 4 candidates side by side ›
Sources cited in this profile
- 1.Ben McAdams (Utah) · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
- 2.Ben McAdams campaign website, quoted verbatim (April 23, 2026) · Ben McAdams campaign website, via Ballotpedia · 2026-04-23 Candidate's own words
- 3.Ben McAdams · Wikipedia · 2026-10-21 Reference
- 4.Utah's 1st District election results 2026 · NBC News News report
- 5.Ben McAdams campaign website, quoted verbatim (April 23, 2026) · Ben McAdams campaign website, via Ballotpedia · 2026-04-23 Candidate's own words
- 6.Roll call: American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 — House passage · Office of the Clerk, U.S. House · 2019-06-04 Official record
- 7.Roll call: Bipartisan Background Checks Act — House passage · Office of the Clerk, U.S. House · 2019-02-27 Official record
- 8.Roll call: Raise the Wage Act — House passage · Office of the Clerk, U.S. House · 2019-07-18 Official record
- 9.Meet Ben · Ben McAdams for Utah Candidate's own words
- 10.Ben McAdams (D) defeated Nate Blouin (D), Michael Farrell (D), and Liban Mohamed (D) in the Democratic primary for Utah's 1st Congressional District · Ballotpedia News · 2026-06-24 Reference
- 11.Riley Owen is the Utah GOP's man in the new 1st district. Can he win? · KUER · 2026-04-28 News report
- 12.Ben McAdams (Utah) · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
- 13.Roll Call 695 | H.Res.755, Article I (Abuse of Power) — Agreeing to the Resolution · Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives · 2019-12-18 Official record
- 14.Roll Call 696 | H.Res.755, Article II (Obstruction of Congress) — Agreeing to the Resolution · Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives · 2019-12-18 Official record
- 15.Roll Call 217 | H.R.5, Equality Act — On Passage · Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives · 2019-05-17 Official record
- 16.Roll Call 155 | Great American Outdoors Act (S.3422) — On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments · Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives · 2020-07-22 Official record