Utah finally has a competitive congressional race, and Tuesday night the two candidates met on the debate stage.
Democrat Ben McAdams and Republican Riley Owen faced off at Salt Lake Community College in the Utah Debate Commission's 1st Congressional District debate. It was the first debate for the new Democratic-leaning seat created after a court threw out the Legislature's gerrymandered map. We watched it live, and this episode is the recording of that livestream.
The debate was mostly polite. The two agreed on more than you'd expect from a Democrat and a Republican in 2026. But they split on tariffs, the national debt and the maps that created the district.
In this episode:
- Where McAdams and Owen agreed, and whether those agreements will last past Election Day
- The redistricting fight, and why neither candidate could avoid it
- The AI super PAC and data centers
- Owen's pitch as a Gen Z Republican who breaks with Trump on trade, immigration and AI
- Who helped themselves Tuesday night, and who didn't
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