2020 General Election
Question: How does a Democrat get elected to Congress from Utah?
Answer: By 694 votes.
Question: How thick is a hair?
Answer: 694 votes.
Some things were helpful.
- The incumbent was Mia Love, a deeply conservative African American.
- She is originally from Brooklyn.
- She was never truly popular in her district, losing her first, disorganized congressional campaign
- She has been at odds with President Trump (not that bad in Utah where Trump is not popular)
- She has criticized Trump’s desire to end birthright citizenship, the separation of immigrant children from their parents, and his criticism of Haiti as a s…hole country. (Her family is from Haiti)
- She has opposed the Affordable Care Act multiple times
Ben McAdams’s https://benmcadamsforcongress.com/ family has been in Utah so long that his children or his children’s children will be able to describe the family’s generations in Utah in double digits. Furthermore, he is a thoroughly competent man. Originally from West Bountiful, he was a popular mayor of Salt Lake County – which comprised 85 % of the congressional district. (I don’t make fun of West Bountiful, I spent my first six years living in South Providence.)
Ben Mcadams got out of town for a while. He went to Columbia Law School and worked briefly for a law firm in New York. He came back. Went to work for a Salt Lake City firm. And was elected to the state Senate.
Ben Mcadams was an amazing Senator. He was able to get good ratings from organizations with opposing views. He received a 75% rating from Parents for Choice in Education. He received a 77% rating from the NEA. He was the highest scoring Democrat, with an 82% rating, from the Utah Taxpayers Association. All in 2012. In 2011, the Salt Lake City Tribune described him as the most liberal Democratic Senator. The next year, the same newspaper described him as the third most conservative Democrat. There were only eight Democrats.
Ben McAdams is most knowable through his role as Mayor of Salt Lake County. I wrote about this in August. Trying to help him get the money he needed to be elected. Did anyone out there give him money? Did any of that money help get one or two of the 694 votes he won by. Not knowable.
There is value in being repetitive. For those who have read what follows: consider it a chance to refresh your memory.
The Utah State legislature required Salt Lake County, to create a new homeless shelter in the County, but not in Salt Lake City. This was a political problem for Ben McAdams. It may have been intended to be a political problem for Ben McAdams. The neighborhoods outside of Salt Lake City did not want a homeless shelter. Neither did the neighborhoods in the City.
Ben McAdams decided he needed to know what it meant to be homeless, what it meant to be in a shelter. He might have asked experts. He might have arranged for a study. He decided to pretend he was homeless.
For three days and two nights, he and a colleague became homeless. This was not a publicity stunt. The press was not invited. There are no pictures. It was a fact-finding mission.
Ben McAdams began by seeking advice. From homeless men. He recalls their advice. Find a place to sleep. Don’t go to the toilet after dark. Don’t take off your shoes.
Ben McAdams and his colleague lined up for a bed in the homeless shelter in Salt Lake City’s toughest area – a shelter that served over 1,000 people.
They were rejected. Later in the day, bedraggled by a cold and heavy rain, eparated somehow, each lined up again. Each got a mattress. Each was too late for a blanket.
Ben McAdams reminds those he speaks to. He was a phone call away from health insurance, from a warm bed, from a hot meal. He was very afraid.
Afterward, Ben McAdams did not publicize the experience. A reporter approached him, having heard informally.BenMcAdams was reluctant to speak about it. He didn’t say much. He specifically refused to talk about drug use among the homeless — about drug use outside the shelter or inside.
These days, Ben McAdams understands that being homeless is a thoroughly unpleasant and frightening experience. He is convinced that large, impersonal shelters are not helpful.
Ben McAdams decided to move toward subsidized housing for homeless families. He decided to reduce the size of shelters. He has begun the work. He replaced the enormous shelter in Salt Lake City with smaller shelters that serve a maximum of 400 people. He did the legislature one better. One of the small shelters is in Salt Lake City. Two are outside the City. He has ensured that the shelters provide services for the homeless that use them. If he were still mayor, he would be moving toward housing instead of shelters.
Ben McAdams was unwilling to let the state legislature push him around. In a style that resembles wrestling, he used his opponent’s momentum.
How will Ben McAdams https://benmcadamsforcongress.com/ do in Congress? How will Ben McAdams do with his constituents? We need to defend candidates who were elected in close races. Last year that included Members of Congress who won by 15,000 votes. Iun 2018, Ben McAdams’ was the closest victory. Six hundred ninety-four votes. Ben McAdams needs to start working now. He needs to make his way in congress and he needs to work to get reelected. You can’t help him in the Congressional work. You can help him get reelected. Give him a little bit. Monthly. That will make a difference.
