The latest Democrat to jump into the increasingly crowded race to represent the newly drawn 1st Congressional District realizes he is no ordinary Utah politician.
Liban Mohamed is the son of Somali immigrant parents. He is Black. He is Muslim. And he is 27 years old.
But Mohamed, who announced his candidacy Monday morning, told The Salt Lake Tribune that the newly created U.S. House district “is a beautiful opportunity and a new chapter for the state of Utah.”
“This is the moment that we really need to focus on finding a leader that’s unique and a leader that reflects the perspectives, energy and hope that this community has,” Mohamed said. “I think I can be that person that comes to the table and galvanizes that energy from all the different folks who typically don’t get involved, but now they will.”
Mohamed grew up in the Ogden area and graduated from the University of Utah.
He had been working in Washington, D.C., for TikTok for nearly three years as the social media app battled efforts by Congress to shut it down if the Chinese company ByteDance did not divest its ownership stake in it. Before that, he worked in New York City for Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, on data center sustainability policy.
He also served as government relations director for the American Heart Association in Utah.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Candidate Liban Mohamed on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026.
Mohamed said he was approached by leaders in the Black and Muslim community about running and decided to step down from his TikTok position.
Utah has had two Black representatives, both Republicans, in Congress — current 4th District Rep. Burgess Owens and former Rep. Mia Love, who died last year.
Mohamed enters the race at a time when President Donald Trump has aimed intense, vitriolic criticism at members of the Somali community in the United States, calling them “garbage” and “I don’t want them in our country.”
According to data from Dave’s Redistricting app, about 38% of residents in Utah’s newly formed 1st District are part of a racial or ethnic minority.
And with Salt Lake City Council member Eva Lopez Chavez announcing her bid for the seat last month, this marks a rare instance in Utah with two minority candidates age 30 or younger as part of a crowded field vying for a congressional seat.
In addition to Chavez and Mohamed, declared 1st District Democratic candidates include state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, former Salt Lake County Mayor and U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, state Sen. Nate Blouin and former Salt Lake City Council member and state Sen. Derek Kitchen.
No Republican has announced yet for the 1st District seat.
The Democratic stampede stems from a new, court-ordered congressional map that creates a compact district in the northern portion of Salt Lake County, establishing a U.S. House seat that favors Democrats by as many as 17 percentage points — the first time in decades the minority party in the state has had such an opportunity.
Mohamed said what he brings to the race is “the ability to bring people into the process that nobody else does.”
“What I will bring to the table is depth of support,” he said. “I’m very confident in my ability to resonate with the community. And more so, I’m very confident in my ability to run on a platform that is helpful to people and that people will want to rally around and champion [in order to] see a representative that fights for them.”
Mohamed is running on a platform aimed at improving housing affordability, capping the cost of child care, expanding access to health care while lowering costs, and ending the unlimited corporate money flooding the political system.