Ben McAdams

On November 20 final results showed that McAdams had won by 694 votes, or .257%. His margin of victory was greater than the .25% needed to automatically trigger a recount. About $11.4 million combined was spent by Love's and McAdams' campaigns, and outside groups on their behalf, making it one of the most expensive campaigns in Utah history. Outside groups are expected to spend heavily to oppose him again in 2020.

In July 2019, McAdams called on Democratic House leadership to advance the passage of the USMCA trade agreement negotiated between the Trump administration, Mexico, and Canada. On January 29, 2020, President Trump signed the USMCA into law after passing both the House and Senate with bipartisan majorities.

McAdams criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi for ripping up her copy of Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address. McAdams called the action "very disappointing" and said "we have a lot of things to celebrate" about the Trump administration, including the economy and jobs.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, McAdams announced he had tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) on March 18, 2020. He was the second sitting member of Congress to test positive, after Mario Díaz-Balart earlier that day. On March 22, McAdams announced that he had been hospitalized since March 20 due to a "severe shortness of breath" related to COVID-19. He was released from the hospital on March 28.

McAdams proposed a county budget for 2019 that included additional funds over previous years' budgets for public safety, including funds to fully open Oxbow Jail, and to help the local sheriff hire and retain public safety officers. The budget would not include a tax increase, and McAdams has said that overall new requests were reduced by around $18 million. After some modifications, the Salt Lake County Council passed the budget unanimously.

In April 2019 McAdams introduced legislation proposing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He was supported by the other 26 members of the Blue Dog Caucus. The amendment would allow deficits during wars, recessions, or sustained periods of high unemployment. It would also protect Social Security and Medicare from court-mandated budget cuts. As justification for the amendment, McAdams cited the $22 trillion debt, $1 trillion annual deficit, increasing interest payments, and lack of efforts by either party to curtail spending growth. Liberal-leaning news sources have criticized the plan: Esquire called it a "pry-bar ... to open the entire Constitution to revision," while Splinter News predicted that "domestic spending programs and the safety net will always be up first on the chopping block if cuts need to be made." The Guardian newspaper accused McAdams and the Blue Dog Coalition of trying to "kill the Green New Deal", which would require deficit spending, and argued that "there’s nothing inherently dangerous about a growing deficit."

A July 2019 poll showed McAdams with the highest approval rating of any member of Utah's congressional delegation.

McAdams introduced a bill to help victims of Ponzi schemes recover their money. On November 18, 2019, it passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. Utah has the highest number of known Ponzi schemes per capita in the United States.

I don’t support abortion. I think that we need to have some reasonable exceptions for rape, or incest or where the life of the mother is endangered. In those cases, it is a personal question. But ... we should never come to the point as a society where abortion [is] for convenience, or we are so callous to it that it is just a procedure that you get done.

In 2019 McAdams voted against a House bill to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. He said he supports a higher minimum wage, but wants a system that sets the rate based on the regional cost of living and purchasing power.

McAdams does not support the Green New Deal; he has said he has "some concerns and [doesn't] have a lot of confidence in big heavy-handed government programs." Instead he has said he wants to see "government working hand-in-hand with the private sector" to harness "the creativity and entrepreneurship of the private sector... to solve [the] crisis" of climate change. McAdams believes in "the threat of climate change," which he says is "real... and we are seeing it... in Utah." McAdams voted for a bill to block the Trump administration from leaving the Paris Agreement. He was the only member of the Utah congressional delegation to do so. In August 2019, McAdams called climate change "the greatest challenge of our time," calling for bipartisan efforts to address it, and for Utah to be a leader in those efforts.

In February 2019, McAdams voted for a bill requiring background checks for all gun buyers. Utah's other Representatives voted against it. At the same time, he voted for a Republican-backed amendment requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be notified when an illegal immigrant attempts to buy a firearm and is caught during the background check. McAdams also voted against a Democratic-sponsored measure to extend the waiting period to buy a firearm from 3 days to 10 days. He stated: "as a supporter of the Second Amendment, I believe most gun owners are responsible, law-abiding citizens. ... Adding more bureaucracy and delays for a gun buyer to navigate does not improve the background check system."

While Salt Lake County mayor, McAdams called for Congress to make fixes to the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) instead of repealing it. He had previously called on Congress to renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) after its funding lapsed in September 2017.

McAdams supports same-sex marriage. After the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the right to marry, McAdams stated: "As Justice Kennedy stated in his opinion, 'The right of same-sex couples to marry is derived from the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.' This decision enshrines what I’ve long believed—that all families should be treated equally under the law."

In 2019 McAdams voted for the Equality Act, which would legally prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit, and the jury system. Despite his vote, McAdams has stated he "do[es]n’t think it’s perfect" and supports continued dialog and refinement of the bill to resolve concerns that several faith-based groups have with it.

After the whistle-blower complaint was released to the public, McAdams expressed support for an impeachment inquiry. He said an inquiry was necessary because Trump had "refus[ed] to further cooperate with congressional oversight, without an impeachment inquiry" On December 18, 2019, McAdams voted for both articles of impeachment against Trump. Two days earlier, he had announced his intention to vote for impeachment, saying, "for me, the evidence is clear" that Trump undermined the 2020 presidential election by soliciting aid from Ukraine to bolster his own political standing. McAdams considered his impeachment vote a choice between "two really bad options. ... One option is to do nothing, and I think the president’s behavior is wrong and we need to make that statement for the record and for history and for future presidents. I’ve got another option that I think further divides the country, stokes these flames of partisanship and divisiveness, all for something that will never really see the light of day in the Senate.” A poll of McAdams's constituents taken shortly before the vote found that 42% were more likely to support McAdams if he voted for impeachment, and 37% were less likely.

McAdams's proposed 2018 county budget was passed by the County Council on a 5–4 vote. The opposition was due to an overrun of $367,000 over the preliminary budget request (of $1.3 billion) that McAdams had submitted previously. Included in the budget were funds for a partial opening of Oxbow Jail, a 2.5 percent pay raise for county employees, and funds for new libraries.

In June 2018 CNN reported that the race was considered "consequential to both parties" because Love had "stood up to [President Donald Trump] on immigration" and "because national Democrats [saw] McAdams as one of their best chances to gain a foothold on red turf".

McAdams was one of over 100 members of Congress who asked to have their pay withheld during the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown.

During the 2018 election campaign McAdams described himself as pro-life, referring to his "deeply held beliefs about the sanctity of life", and said that Mia Love's charge that he is an abortion advocate was "offensive". McAdams also said "decisions about terminating a pregnancy should [be] made by a woman in consultation with her physician, family members and faith counselors she trusts".

During the 2018 election campaign McAdams opposed President Trump's plans to build a wall on the southern U.S. border with Mexico. During the 2018–19 government shutdown, McAdams said he could accept additional border protection funding, potentially including a wall, if it were part of a compromise bill that included immigration reform and "a fix for the Dreamers and DACA." (The government shutdown had centered on Trump's demands for additional funds to construct a wall.)

On October 18, 2017, McAdams announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination to oppose incumbent Representative Mia Love, a Republican representing Utah's 4th congressional district. On April 28, 2018, McAdams won the Democratic nomination at the party's convention. With the backing of 72% of the convention delegates, McAdams avoided a primary campaign.

Although not a member of Congress when it passed, McAdams expressed opposition to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, because of the expected $1.5 trillion increase of the national debt over 10 years. He also believes it favors the "wealthy over the middle class." He has stated he believes in tax code modernization, but that he considered the tax reform bill "fiscally irresponsible," and believes that its cost "is borrowed from future generations."

McAdams was mentioned as a potential candidate in Utah's 2016 Senate race or Utah's 2016 gubernatorial race, but did not run for either position. He was reelected to a second term as Salt Lake County Mayor in November 2016 with 59% of the vote.

As Salt Lake County mayor, McAdams sat on the board of directors of the United Way of Salt Lake County. He implemented a "pay-for-success" model that invited third-party investors to pay for preschool and gain a return on their investment when specified benchmarks were met. In 2016 the United Way recognized McAdams for this model and its "data-driven collaborative approach."

McAdams opposed a proposed Facebook data center in West Jordan in 2016. West Jordan city leaders blamed opposition from Salt Lake County, and McAdams in particular, for Facebook's ultimate choice to locate the data center in New Mexico instead of West Jordan. The $2.5 billion data center would have received $195 million from the city and county in tax breaks. McAdams believed that the data center was too expensive, since it would have directly produced a maximum of only 130 jobs. Supporters of the data center argued it would have drawn additional development and investment to the region.

In 2014 McAdams supported the renewal of a Zoos, Arts, and Parks (ZAP) tax in Salt Lake County. The ZAP tax amounts to 1 cent on every $10 spent. It partially funds more than 190 county arts and cultural organizations, as well as 30 parks and recreation facilities, including Hogle Zoo, Tracy Aviary, the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, and others. The tax was approved by voters in 2014, with nearly 77% of county voters in favor.

McAdams supports efforts to improve Utah's air quality. He requested that the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee double the funding available for the Utah Transit Authority to purchase electric buses, in an effort to improve air quality. Air quality in Salt Lake City and other Utah urban areas consistently ranks among the worst in the US. Together with Representative John Curtis, McAdams introduced legislation that would make projects like FrontRunner eligible for federal funding—in FrontRunner's case, by installing more miles of double track to increase service.

Before the Trump–Ukraine scandal, McAdams had been cautious about the prospect of impeaching President Trump, or opposed it outright. For instance, after the Mueller investigation, McAdams said, "if the Mueller report supports the conclusion that no additional criminal matters are unresolved, then it is time for the country and the Congress to move on.“

McAdams received a 75% rating from the advocacy group Parents for Choice in Education during the 2012 legislative session and a 77% rating from the National Education Association. He also received an 82% score from the Utah Taxpayers Association, the highest-scoring Democrat that year. The Salt Lake Tribune identified McAdams as the most liberal-leaning member of the Utah Senate in 2011, with a conservative rating of 34.4% that year. In 2012, however, the Tribune identified him as the third-most conservative Democratic Utah state senator (out of eight).

In November 2011 McAdams announced his campaign to succeed Peter Corroon as mayor of Salt Lake County, Utah. On November 6, 2012, McAdams was elected with 54% of the vote, defeating Republican nominee Mark Crockett. McAdams resigned from the state senate before taking office as mayor.

With his win, McAdams became the first Democratic member of congress elected from Utah since Jim Matheson won reelection to the 4th District in 2012.

In March 2011 McAdams proposed a bill banning employment and housing discrimination against gay and transgender Utahans. His motion to hold a hearing on it failed on a party-line vote. Salt Lake City passed a similar measure in 2009.

McAdams is a self-described moderate Democrat. He has emphasized his efforts to work with Republicans, and has said he believes that it is important to work together to solve problems. According to the UCLA Department of Political Science's DW-NOMINATE scores, McAdams is the most conservative Democrat of the 116th House.

During the current 116th session of Congress McAdams was one of three Democrats to sign a Republican-led petition to advance the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act", an anti-abortion bill.

McAdams cosponsored S.B. 0150, a measure designed to promote communication between schools and parents of elementary school students who are reading below grade level. Governor Gary Herbert signed the bill into law on March 29, 2010.

McAdams was elected to replace Scott McCoy as the senator for Utah's second district in a special election on December 19, 2009. He was elected to a four-year term on November 2, 2010.

McAdams, a seventh-generation Utahn, is one of six children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and served a mission to Brazil in the mid-1990s. McAdams and his wife, Julie, have four children.

Benjamin Michael McAdams (born December 5, 1974) is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative from Utah's 4th congressional district since 2019. He is the only Democratic member of Utah's congressional delegation, and a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. From 2013 to 2019 he served as mayor of Salt Lake County, and from 2009 to 2012, he was the Utah state senator from the 2nd district, which includes Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, and a portion of West Valley. McAdams was elected to Congress in 2018, defeating two-term Republican incumbent Mia Love by 694 votes.