Utah’s 1st Congressional District House Race Winner

Democrat Ben McAdams and Republican Riley Owen debated Tuesday at Salt Lake Community College in a contest for Utah's newly redrawn First Congressional District, hosted by the Utah Debate Commission with PBS Utah as media partner.

The race follows a lengthy redistricting fight. A Utah judge threw out the congressional map drawn by GOP state legislators, ruling it violated nonpartisan standards established by a 2018 voter-approved ballot measure. The judge instead adopted a map proposed by plaintiffs, including the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government. The new First District now includes Salt Lake City, a Democratic-leaning area, making the seat more competitive than under the previous map. Current Republican incumbent Rep. Blake Moore is instead running in the newly drawn Second District.

McAdams, who represented Utah in Congress from 2019 to 2021, is seeking a return to the House. Owen, a former Trump White House staffer, would be among the chamber's youngest members if elected.

Utah's congressional debate season began Tuesday with a matchup between Democrat Ben McAdams and Republican Riley Owen for the state's 1st Congressional District. The debate, hosted by Salt Lake Community College and organized by the Utah Debate Commission, was broadcast by ABC4.

McAdams secured the Democratic nomination after June's primary, overcoming convention delegates' earlier backing of Liban Mohamed in a four-candidate field. He previously represented Utah's 4th District from 2019 to 2021 and has also served as Salt Lake County Mayor and a state senator. New district boundaries created a more Democratic-leaning seat in Salt Lake County, prompting a more progressive campaign approach from McAdams this cycle. Owen, 27, won his party's nomination with strong delegate support at the Republican Convention. A former White House policy analyst and Navy Reserve intelligence officer, he has also founded a defense technology startup and a wildlife conservation foundation. The race is one of several closely watched Utah contests this cycle.

Utah's last congressional debate of the cycle took place Tuesday evening in Logan, hosted by the Utah Debate Commission at Utah State University, featuring District 2 candidates Rep. Blake Moore (R) and Peter Crosby (D).

Moore has represented Utah's 1st Congressional District since 2021 but is running in the newly redrawn District 2 following statewide boundary changes. He defeated primary challenger Karianne Lisonbee, a state representative who qualified for the ballot through delegate support at the Utah Republican Convention. Moore previously co-chaired the 2018 Better Boundaries campaign behind Proposition 4, Utah's anti-gerrymandering law, and this year opposed efforts to repeal it via ballot initiative, instead urging a public vote.

Crosby, a northern Utah native and adjunct professor at Utah State University's Center for Anticipatory Intelligence, secured the Democratic nomination at his party's April convention. He previously held leadership roles in a Fortune 500 company after starting his career in customer service.

The debate marked the final event in Utah's series of congressional matchups ahead of the election.

Third-party and unaffiliated candidates appear in all four of Utah's congressional districts this fall, though none qualified for official debates and none poll in double digits. Figures like unaffiliated candidates Robert Moesinger and Steven Burt, Libertarian Taylor Wright, Independent American Carlton Bowen and Constitution Party nominee Cassie Easley say they aren't running to win but to challenge the two-party system, push reforms like ranked-choice voting and multi-member districts, and engage disaffected young voters.

Historically, Utah's third-party candidates have drawn minimal support, averaging roughly 2% since 1914, with Evan McMullin a notable exception. Rising unaffiliated voter registration suggests some appetite for alternatives, but it remains unclear whether that will translate into votes for non-major-party candidates this cycle.

Utah's U.S. House race is drawing attention ahead of the midterms as Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy debated Democratic challenger Kent Udell on Friday in St. George. Maloy, who has represented Utah's 2nd Congressional District since 2023, is running this cycle in the newly drawn 3rd Congressional District following mid-decade redistricting. She secured the GOP nomination after defeating former state Rep. Phil Lyman in a June primary, triggered when neither candidate won outright at the state convention.

Udell, a retired University of Utah mechanical engineering professor, ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. The 3rd District spans southern and eastern Utah, including Provo and St. George, and is considered heavily Republican territory, with the Cook Political Report rating it "Solid R." The debate, hosted by the Utah Debate Commission and PBS Utah, gave voters a direct look at both candidates as the race heads toward November, though the contest is not viewed as competitive for control of the House.