Ben McAdams resoundingly won Utah’s 1st Congressional District on Tuesday night, joining dozens of fellow Democrats who flipped Republican seats nationwide and gave their party control of Congress.

On Wednesday, The Salt Lake Tribune sat down with the representative-elect to discuss what his victory means, what his priorities will be when he rejoins the U.S. House after serving one term before losing in 2020 and whether the Democratic gains are sustainable — in Utah and nationally — beyond 2026.

Here is that interview, edited for length and clarity:

What are your overall impressions, and what’s your big takeaway from the results last night?

McAdams • This was an exciting night for Utah Democrats. Voters turned up and made their voices heard, and their voice was loud. There was a lot of energy last night as we were at the watch party with other Utah Democrats, and people really feel the honor of the trust that voters have placed in us.

Do you feel like this is an endorsement of Democrats or a repudiation of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement?

McAdams • Look, I think it’s a repudiation of Trump, for sure. It’s also repudiation of Utah GOP leadership. We’ve seen people feel like they’re ignored, that their elected officials don’t care about them, and they are stepping up to make their voices heard. Now this trust has to be earned. They’re paying it forward. We have to now show what we’re going to do with the trust they’ve given us.

You said that voters put trust in Democrats to execute on the agenda. What is on your agenda as you head back to D.C.?

McAdams • People are hurting. What I heard on the doorsteps and talking to voters throughout this election is they are worried about how they’re going to put gas in the tank. Are they going to be able to put food on the table for their families tomorrow? How are they going to pay rent at the end of the month? And they’ve seen elected officials who presume — because they’ve won elections on autopilot for many, many years — that the government works for them, not for us.

Voters want their elected officials to care about the challenges that they’re facing, the struggles that they’re seeing. And what [voters] have seen is leaders who will talk a good game about saving the Great Salt Lake, about bringing down the cost of housing, but things don’t get better.

At the end of the day, the voters don’t care what people say; they care what actually changes and what gets better. I think what we see a lot of, when push comes to shove, is a tax break to a celebrity instead of water to the Great Salt Lake. So I think what they want to see from Utah Democrats is that we listen, that we are going to put forward an agenda that, when they elect Democrats, things can get better. And I think the mandate not only for Democrats in Utah, but also Democrats nationally, is to not forget the hardship of the people who put their trust in us this election. And this is trust that has to be earned going forward. It’s not a given.

Structurally speaking, Democrats now control the Senate and the House. They don’t control the White House. So should voters be prepared for two years of stagnation? Are you going to be able to accomplish anything?

McAdams • What you’ll see from Democrats, first and foremost, is we care about the people who are hurting, the people who gave us their trust. And, look, I think that it is incumbent upon us to work across differences with any serious policymaker who wants to come to the table. We will work across our differences to move forward solutions.

You know, President Trump is going to have to decide: Does he decide that he wants to care about the American people, or is he going to continue to care about himself and enriching himself? But what I think you’re going to see from Democrats is the willingness to work with anybody who wants to come to the table to root out the corruption that we’ve seen in our government and to move forward solutions that are going to make life better.

You talk about rooting out corruption. Obviously, as a member of the majority in the House now, you will have some say in oversight. Do you anticipate that that’s going to be a priority for Democrats? Investigations into the federal agencies, into the White House, potential impeachment proceedings? Can you talk a little bit about what you envision there?

McAdams • Yeah, our priority is going to be delivering solutions for people who are hurting right now. I’ve never been more worried about the direction of our country than I am right now, and people are really, really struggling and really suffering. So they need to see that Utah Democrats get that. That we understand the mission, and the mission is to work to make life better for them.

Now, we have to acknowledge that part of the reason that costs are so high is the corruption that we see in our government and people who are profiting off of the decisions that Washington makes — whether that’s cutting healthcare subsidies to fund a tax break for billionaires, whether it’s insider trading off of stocks or trading off of the president’s tweets and making a profit off of that — as regular people and their 401(k) suffers because somebody else is making a profit off of the trades that we don’t have inside access to. [Democrats’] number one focus is going to be making life better for the people who gave us their trust.

But part of that has to be rooting out the corruption, and we would be remiss if we did not look at what we see happening and turn a blind eye. That’s happened for the last two years with a Congress that ignores the corruption that’s happening right in front of our faces. And Congress has a constitutional duty to be a check on the other branches of government, and that’s something we will take seriously.

I don’t want this to come off as: “We’ll hang him first and then have a trial.” But going into the House, do you see anything that you think President Trump has done that is potentially impeachable? And would you pursue that when you’re sworn in?

McAdams • In 2018 I flipped the most Republican district in the country, and I had an existential question put to me when I had to decide whether I was going to impeach Donald Trump for his actions in his first presidency. And, for me, he crossed that line in 2019, and I voted to impeach, knowing it would cost me my election.

Congress does have a constitutional duty to be a check and balance on the other branches of government, to root out corruption wherever we find it. For far too long, [lawmakers in] Congress [have] turned a blind eye when the corruption is coming from their own party, and I think we need to be able to and willing to root out corruption, whether that’s the corruption that we see happening from Donald Trump and his family and his cronies. But we’re not going to turn a blind eye to corruption, even if we find it within the Democratic Party. I think we need to end stock trading by members of Congress. We need to make sure that people are serving for the right reasons and that we’re serving the American people, not our own financial interests.

You talk about making things better for families, and you talk about rolling back some of the benefits cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill. What other specific steps do you plan to take? Just briefly. We don’t have to go deep in the weeds.

McAdams • I’ve done a lot of work since I’ve been out of Congress on housing and housing policy, and Utah, and especially my district, is really nationally at the front of the line in the housing crisis. I worry about the world that we’re leaving to my kids and to their generation, where they can’t afford rent and homeownership is a pipe dream. What are we going to do to make housing affordable? Are we just going to be content that our kids have to leave the state if they ever want to build a life, or are we going to come forward with solutions that allow for my kids to stay here and to raise their kids in a place that I love and have called home?

So I’m excited to bring some of the solutions that I’ve worked on, in my private-sector capacity, with states and cities and counties on housing solutions. So that’s going to be a key focus of mine. We have to decide to save the Great Salt Lake, not just give it lip service, but actually save the lake that is this environmental catastrophe already happening in slow motion. That is a choice. … And we’re not going to solve the Great Salt Lake without the state government stepping forward meaningfully, without the federal government stepping forward meaningfully. And I think the private sector needs to step forward and do its part.

What does that look like? Assuming all those parties step forward, what do you envision the salvation of the lake looking like?

McAdams • I actually have legislation that I’ve been working on that I think has promise, that I think can be a big part of it. I’m already starting to float [that] with other people to get feedback. It looks like it’s a good idea. So we’ll have more information on that.

At the end of the day, the solution is in front of our face. We’ve got to get the water that is here right now to the lake. Yes, some of the challenges we’re seeing are driven by climate change, but most of it is driven by development that is simply diverting water. We need to make a choice to get it to the Great Salt Lake. That’s going to require federal, state, private-sector dollars on the table to secure the water rights and to get them to the Great Salt Lake so that we can restore the lake to a healthy level.

A couple of more forward-looking questions. These are preliminary numbers, but something happened last night that I haven’t seen in a long time. In those [four] congressional races, Democrats got more votes than the Republicans statewide — 342,000 to 326,000 — so about 16,000 more votes. Is that a fluke? Or is that something that you think could be sustainable for Democrats in the state?

McAdams • I think we are living in a much different world today than we were yesterday. The votes are still coming in, so we’ll have to look at what that looks like after all the votes are counted. But right now, my margin of victory is 47 percentage points. And then [if] you look at the other three congressional districts, and you tally those votes, Democrats won the statewide vote yesterday in Utah. I think that’s got to give Utah Republicans pause when they think about their persistent efforts to overturn the will of the voters and to overturn Proposition 4. If the breaking of the [Legislature’s Republican] supermajority holds, they’ve lost the ability to amend the Utah Constitution to deny voters their voice. With this resounding message that the voters sent to the Utah GOP, the lesson should be that they should start listening to the voters, because the voters are willing to make a different choice.

One more look-ahead question. It’s early to talk about it, but now we start looking at 2028. Your seat probably is fairly safe unless lawmakers redistrict again, which blew up in the Republicans’ face in Utah and in other states as well. But as Democrats start looking at who they want to represent them in the race for the presidency, in your primary you had this sort of dynamic of the progressive candidates, Democratic socialist candidates and yourself. What do you think Democrats should take away from this election, and how should it inform their decisions on whom they nominate in 2028?

McAdams • I think the country would benefit from a good old-fashioned primary where people are putting their ideas on the table from across the political spectrum. This laboratory of ideas is what makes a future presidency strong. I think the message for Democrats in Congress is that we elected candidates up and down the ballot across the political spectrum, and every idea is welcome. We are going to put every idea to the test to see what will make life better for the American people.

I think that’s going to be healthy. I look forward to [debating] robust ideas with people — with Republicans, with more progressive Democrats — about what solutions can get across the finish line and what can make life better. And no idea is unwelcome. I am excited for a presidential primary that is going to be a vigorous competition of ideas that will make the Democratic Party stronger and will make our country stronger.

You talked about gas prices and the impact they’re having on people. Part of that, if not most of that, is a result of the war with Iran. I assume you would vote to end the war in Iran, but would you also vote to end the support for Israel and its bombardment of Iran and those other countries?

McAdams • It’s not rocket science that what has driven up the cost of gas is this ill-begotten war that was entered into without really any goal in mind or any strategy for exit. And the American people are paying the price of this. So, as we move forward, we need to certainly prioritize what’s going to make life better for the American people. And I look forward to getting back there with my colleagues and looking at the ideas that can do that.

It’s a whole new world. We’re seeing different Republicans and even President Trump willing to be conciliatory and looking for an exit into this war that he got us into, that has cost us so dearly — American lives and then is costing the American people and in their wallets so dearly. So I look forward to any idea that’s going to be able to bring down the cost and help the American people who are struggling.

Just to push a little bit harder: Should the U.S. end its support of Israel for the war?

McAdams • I have always said that Israel is an important ally of the United States in the Middle East. Allies can hold each other accountable. I have seen what has happened, what the [Benjamin] Netanyahu regime has done, the suffering that they’ve caused so many people. Nobody, Israeli or Palestinian, should fear for their safety or their livelihood. Right now, our priority needs to be getting humanitarian aid into Gaza, getting healthcare access, food into Gaza, to end the suffering as we’re coming into winter, to make sure that people have access to critical needs.

Right now, families in Gaza are running out of food and today are going hungry. The number one priority the United States needs to be getting humanitarian aid to people who are struggling and then putting pressure on Israel. And, as [the formation of] that government is still taking place, hopefully the Israeli people have stepped up and made a choice to say that they aren’t OK with what’s happening. But I think the Netanyahu administration, as an ally of the United States, we need to put pressure on them to end the atrocities that have been happening in Gaza. The United States needs to be a force for peace in the Middle East, and right now what we’ve given is a blank check.