Political ads · 2026 · UT

Utah House District 1 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them

Ben McAdams won · 70.3% to 26.0%, with an estimated 90% of the vote counted · Called by AP on Nov 4

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Ben McAdams (Democrat) and Riley Owen (Republican) are the nominees for Utah's 1st congressional district in the November 3, 2026 general election. By their latest FEC reports, Ben McAdams's campaign had raised $2.8 million (through October 14, 2026) and Riley Owen's campaign $164,000 (through October 14, 2026). Outside groups have reported $3.9 million for Ben McAdams and $0 against.

Ben McAdams (DEM), Riley Owen (REP). 6 others filed with the FEC; any ads they ran are below. 0 ads analyzed, 0 with at least one technique in the copy. Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing.

Also on every Utah ballot: 2 statewide ballot measures → The ballot wording and the official arguments, read for rhetorical techniques.

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Money in this race

From FEC filings for 2025–26. Outside spending is money a group spends on its own about a candidate — TV and online ads, mail, canvassing. It is not a donation to the campaign, and the candidate does not control it. Supporting means it was spent to help that candidate win; Opposing means it was spent to defeat them, usually on attack ads. Groups report it within 24 or 48 hours as the election nears. Raised is the campaign's own fundraising, as of its latest quarterly report. Largest donors come from each outside spender's own FEC receipts, with each donor's share of its itemized receipts; donors under $100,000 are not named. People are shown with the employer and occupation they reported. A donor that is itself a political committee is shown with its own largest donors. Companies and nonprofits don't report their funders to the FEC, so the trail ends there, and the page says so.

Ben McAdams (DEM)

Raised: $2.8M through 2026-10-14 individuals $2.4M · PACs $342K · from the candidate's other committees $90K · cash on hand $378K
Outside spending: $3.9M supporting McAdams · latest reported 2026-06-23
Largest outside spenders: NEW DEMOCRAT MAJORITY — $2.0M supporting McAdams Largest donors: OPPORTUNITY FORWARD ALLIANCE $3.4M (56%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); EFFECTIVE GOVERNING COALITION $2.2M (38%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC) THINK BIG — $1.1M supporting McAdams Largest donors: LEADING THE FUTURE $22.5M (98%); Ronald Conway $500K (2%), SV Angel, Founder ARTICLE ONE PAC — $396K supporting McAdams Largest donors: ARTICLE ONE ACTION FUND $2.6M (54%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); OPPORTUNITY FORWARD ALLIANCE $750K (15%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); GUZMAN FOUNDATION $550K (11%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); SERVANT-LEADER FUND INC. $500K (10%); Glen Tullman $175K (4%), Transcarent, CEO AMERICA'S CREDIT UNIONS PAC — $300K supporting McAdams Largest donors: MICHIGAN CREDIT UNION LEAGUE LEGISLATIVE ACTION FUND $372K (14%); LEAGUE OF SOUTHEASTERN CREDIT UNIONS FEDERAL PAC $210K (8%); OHIO CREDIT UNION LEAGUE PAC $160K (6%); CAROLINAS CREDIT UNION LEAGUE CREDIT UNION DEFENSE FUND $100K (4%) WELCOMEPAC — $42K supporting McAdams Largest donors: Jason E Carroll $500K (17%), Hudson River Trading, Founder; THE WELCOME PARTY, INC. $450K (15%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Debra A Efroymson $300K (10%), Healthbridge, Regional Director; Samuel R Walton $290K (10%), Restoration Works LLC, Owner; David Nierenberg $232K (8%), THE D3 Family Funds, Investor and 1 more

Bundled through PACs: $4,500 through 1 PAC · FEC bulk data of 2026-11-01 FAIR SHOT PAC — $4,500 from 2 gifts

66 PACs gave directly — alphabetical; the legal limit is $5,000 per election

AAJ PAC $10K
ADAM PAC $1,000
ADVANCING DEMOCRACY AND MOBILIZATION PAC $1,000
AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL $2,500
AMERICA'S CREDIT UNION PAC OF CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, INC. $5,000
AMERICAN ROAD & TRANSPORTATION BUILDERS ASSOCIATION PAC $1,000
AMERIPAC $10K
AZPAC $1,000
BANKPAC $10K
BEEPAC (BUILDING ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PAC) $1,000
BEYOND THOUGHTS & PRAYERS PAC $1,000
BREAD FINANCIAL HOLDINGS INC. PAC $5,000
BRIDGE THE GAP PAC $2,000
BUILD AMERICA PAC $1,000
CA LUV PAC (CALIFORNIA LEADERSHIP UNITED FOR VICTORY PAC) $5,000
CENTER AISLE PAC $1,000
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PAC (CREDA PAC) $5,000
COMMITTEE TO ELECT JARED GOLDEN $4,000
COMMITTEE TO ELECT LIDDY HUNTSMAN HERNANDEZ $391
CONCRETEPAC $2,500
CRH AMERICAS, INC. PAC $2,500
DEFEND THE VOTE $2,500
DEMOCRATS WIN SEATS (DWS PAC) $1,000
DRIVE COMMITTEE $2,500
ELECT MORE DEMOCRATS PAC $1,000
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY PAC $2,500
FAIR SHOT PAC $2,000
FIGHTING BACK PAC $1,000
FMR LLC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE - FEDERAL (FIDELITY PAC) $1,000
FOSTERING PROGRESS PAC $1,000
GETTING RESULTS BY ENGAGING THE GRASSROOTS - GREG PAC $500
HNTB HOLDINGS LTD PAC $2,500
HOPE PAC $2,000
INSURING AMERICA PAC $2,500
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS PAC $5,000
INVENERGY PAC $1,000
LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS ACTION FUND $4,900
LOBO PAC $1,500
MARC VEASEY CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE $1,000
MATHESON FOR CONGRESS $4,000
MCKENZIE RIVER PAC $1,000
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $10K
NATIONWIDE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY FINANCIAL & INVESTMENTS PAC $2,000
NEW DEMOCRAT COALITION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $5,000
NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY PAC $5,000
NMHC PAC $5,000
ONE MAIN HOLDINGS INC PAC $2,500
PACIFIC POWER / ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER PAC $5,000
PEOPLE FOR DEREK KILMER $1,000
PETE AGUILAR FOR CONGRESS $2,000
PITNEY BOWES INC PAC $2,000
PUGET PAC $1,000
RON KIND FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE $2,000
SAVE DEMOCRACY PAC (SD PAC) $10K
SCHNEIDER FOR CONGRESS $2,000
SELECTIVE INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA $500
SERVING OUR COUNTRY PAC $1,000
SKIPAC $10K
STANTON FOR CONGRESS $2,000
SUPPORTING HOUSE PROBLEM SOLVERS PAC $1,000
TOMORROW PAC $1,000
TRANSUNION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $1,000
TRIED-AND-TRUE PAC $2,000
TURQUOISE PAC $3,500
WAY BACK PAC $3,500
ZURICH HOLDING CO. OF AMERICA COMMITTEE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT (Z-PAC) $1,000

All filings at the FEC ↗

Riley Owen (REP)

Raised: $164K through 2026-10-14 individuals $118K · PACs $16K · candidate's own money, incl. loans $30K · cash on hand $9,503
Outside spending: none reported

Bundled through PACs: none reported · FEC bulk data of 2026-11-01

1 PAC gave directly — alphabetical; the legal limit is $5,000 per election

WAGING PEACE $4,000

All filings at the FEC ↗

No campaign ads analyzed for this race yet.

What this page is

An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it comes from a national Senate group and ran mostly in UT; or it ran mostly in UT and names a candidate — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific rhetorical move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. Running a check and seeing its verdicts are part of Semblen Pro, because each check costs money to run; anyone can see which claims an ad makes. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.