UTAH — Liban Mohamed won the Utah Democratic Party state convention last month with 51% of the vote, defeating former congressman and former Salt Lake County mayor Ben McAdams to qualify for the June Democratic primary in Utah's 1st congressional district. Mohamed, McAdams, state senator Nate Blouin, and attorney Michael Farrell each also qualified for the primary ballot by gathering enough signatures, a parallel route available under Utah's nomination rules.

Mohamed, a 27-year-old son of Somali immigrants who was born in a small town in Utah, has previously worked in public policy at Meta and at TikTok. After his convention win, he was still polling in the single digits, while McAdams and Blouin held double-digit polling leads and fundraising advantages.

"The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result," Mohamed said of the primary field. He framed his candidacy as a test of whether "Utahns are willing to take a risk on hope over the certainty of the status quo."

The 1st congressional district was redrawn after the Utah state supreme court struck down Republican-drawn congressional maps in an anti-gerrymandering ruling earlier this year, creating a more compact, Democratic-leaning seat centered on Salt Lake County. Mohamed described the district's demographics in detail.

"This district is not what most people think," he said. "We have 60,000 refugees, 60,000 Muslims, and nearly 120,000 people from the Latinx community." He linked that makeup to the area's political character: "In a lot of ways, many people here see themselves as refugees. So when they see families coming from places like where mine came from, seeking asylum, they have a soft place in their hearts."

He said his candidacy had drawn hostile responses online. "I was flooded with more than 40,000 anti-immigrant, Islamophobic messages," he said. "There were people who were scared, and maybe even shocked, that a 27-year-old Somali American, the son of immigrants, in Utah of all places, would believe he belongs in Congress."

Blouin, whose past online posts including jokes about sexual assault, slurs, and comments denigrating members of the Mormon faith resurfaced before the convention, apologized and told delegates he was reckoning with his past mistake. Mohamed said he weighed how publicly to push back against immigration enforcement. "I had to ask myself, do I stand up and fight back with full strength, knowing it could bring more attention to our district and potentially bring ICE here faster?" he said. "That moment made me realize what this is about. It's finding a leader hopeful enough to fight when the time is right, but careful enough to do what's best for the community."

Mohamed pointed to his convention coalition as evidence of momentum. "We have first-time delegates, young people, refugees, immigrants, working-class people, and longtime community members organizing to deliver a huge upset," he said. "People continue to discount us. But at the end of the day, community prevails. It's the people who vote, not the dollars you spend."