Utah District 1 congressional race stacks up  

Candidates are starting to put their hats in the ring for the District 1 congressional race. This district, which encompasses most of Salt Lake County, has already brought in four candidates for the race.

Kathleen Riebe, a former state congresswoman, has a background in education as a teacher. She doesn’t take money from corporate PACs. 

Ben McAdams was the former mayor of Salt Lake County. He also served one term in Congress. He said that he wants to focus on affordability. He has positioned himself as anti-Trump because of his voting record in Congress 

Derek Kitchen served in the state Senate. He was also the main plaintiff in a lawsuit in Utah that overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. 

Nate Blouin is currently a state senator. He has focused much of his time on environmental bills.

Democrats are interested in this map because it leans toward the party. Four candidates have announced their bid, and more are likely to join. 

This district’s creation is a result of the Better Boundaries Initiative. 3rd District Court Judge Diana Gibson ruled on Nov. 10 that the map chosen by the Republican legislature did not comply with the law. She ruled that the chosen map was too partisan and chose a new map to replace it. This map will be used for the midterm election in 2026. 

David Ryman, attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, said after the result, 

“Utahns are tired of partisan political games, and manipulated contests and elections, and demand that the legislature most crucially must comply with the constitution, and they can’t ignore just to try to keep themselves in power.” 

The new map creates three strong Republican districts and one strong democratic district. No Republicans have announced their candidacy yet.

The Republicans feel like this was an overreach by a radical judge. They have reacted negatively to and want the map redacted because of the inconsistencies that the map has. It has homes split by districts. This has happened because the map creator has to rely on data from 2020, even though municipalities have changed since then.

Utah representative Candice Pierucci felt that this was an activist making the decision. 

“This is a clear example of judicial activism,” she said. “One elected judge decided that her personal opinion outweighs Utah’s constitution and the will of the people.”