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47 days - Candidate filing opens for the 2026 midterm elections (1/2/2026)
65 days - Start of the 2026 Utah Legislature (1/20/2026).
159 days - Utah Democratic Party's state nominating convention (4/25/2026)
218 days - Utah's 2026 primary election (6/23/2026)
352 days - 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026)
1,087 days - 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028)

📰 Above the fold

Former Congressman Ben McAdams said Friday he raised $500,000 in the first 24 hours of his comeback bid. Impressive, but not surprising.

McAdams has proven he can raise money. In his first bid for Congress, he raised nearly $3.5 million against Republican Mia Love. Two years later, he pulled in more than $5.6 million. His status as a former member of Congress undoubtedly gives him a big advantage.

Dave Hansen, who ran campaigns for Republicans Orrin Hatch and Mia Love, once told me money, or the lack of it, is the difference between “running the kind of campaign you want to run and the kind of campaign you’re forced to run.”

The race for the nomination in Utah’s newly-created 1st District will be extraordinarily short for a congressional race. As of Monday morning, there are just 159 days remaining until the Democratic nominating convention on April 25, and just 218 days before the 2026 primary election on June 23. That means less time for everything—especially raising money.

Announcing a large fundraising haul is a common way for campaigns to generate some positive press. For McAdams, it’s a way to put any potential rivals for the Democratic nomination on notice that his fundraising operation is back up and running after lying dormant for the last two election cycles.

Money signals viability—donors give to candidates they think can win—and name recognition like McAdams’ attracts more of it. The psychological effect matters, too: a haul this big can give would‑be rivals second thoughts.

Former Republican Speaker of the House Brad Wilson tried the same gambit during his run for U.S. Senate in 2024, hoping that by announcing a large fundraising haul, he would scare other Republicans away from the race.

But Wilson’s large campaign war chest was mostly an illusion. Of the $4.6 million he raised, $3 million came from loans he made to his own campaign.

In October 2023, Wilson’s campaign sent out a splashy press release trumpeting that he had raised $1 million for the second straight quarter. Later disclosures showed he loaned his campaign $600,000 on the final day of the period to push the total over $1 million.

To be clear, money alone does not win elections, but it sure helps. Congressional candidates who raise the most money win roughly 90-95% of the time, according to Open Secrets.

The lure of a what could be a Democratic-leaning congressional seat in Utah could lead to a crowded Democratic primary. Campaign cash for Democrats in Utah is a finite resource, and McAdams just hoovered up a huge chunk of it. McAdams’ single-day total is more than the entire fundraising total for every Utah Democratic congressional candidate in 2022 and 2024 combined.

The only Democrat who has come close to McAdams’ fundraising total in recent years was state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, who raised just under $350,000 for the special election to replace Republican Chris Stewart in 2023.

Last week, Riebe also announced she’s running for the Democratic nomination in the 1st District, but has not yet filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.