Ben McAdams is the only democrat that has served under Congress in Utah in the last few years. With the state being very conservative, a democrat in Congress representing Utah is a very hard to achieve.  

Ben McAdams was only able to serve for 2 years, but he still was a voice for the democrats in Utah who felt like they were not represented.  

Why is this important for students? 

Under Congress, representatives vote and pass legislation that affects our everyday lives all across the states. With McAdams back in Congress, he would pass legislation to affect our lives, and he would be a voice for the left leaning students who may not want to be public about their opinions in such a red state.  

Debate Coach and History Teacher, Andrew Hahn Said, “Last time Ben McAdams was in Congress, he didn’t get very many opportunities to advocate for or on behalf of the residence of Utah, since he was only in there for two years. The fact that he won in his district couple years ago was actually fairly miraculous and it was a really narrow victory at that, but with the redistricting that happened in 2020, disabled him from having a viable road to winning reelection in 2020. So with him running in 2026, I’m interested to see how well he does now that he has a record in Congress to run on, but I’m also interested to see that if he does win what he would do as a representative in Utah, especially as the sole representative in all of Congress from Utah that would be a democrat.”  

Therefore, with the fact that he is running again, if elected, he will get the opportunity to make more changes and impacts in congress that Utahn’s might be wanting to see.

 Junior, Jane Foster said,  “I’m not a fan on his approaches to minimum wage, air quality, and housing. These are all important issues in Utah and he should be doing and advocating for more as one of the few democratic representatives in Utah.” 

Some students don’t like his approaches to issues, but him running is still important for Utah.

Overall, Ben McAdams decision to run for Congress a second time is not only a big deal for Utah, but also for students among Utah.