It's a crowded race for Utah’s First Congressional District, with four candidates making their case in the Democratic primary. City Cast Salt Lake sent a survey to all of them, so you can compare where they stand on the issues shaping Salt Lake right now. Here’s their take on the national issues affecting our communities.
Answers are fact checked (see editor’s notes), but are unedited, and candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Utah leaders want to invest in and develop more data centers, like the one proposed in Box Elder County, to support AI. They argue it's a matter of national security and an economic driver. What do you think Utah's approach to data centers should be?
- Blouin: "I support Bernie Sanders' call for a national moratorium on new data centers. We shouldn't be building more until we have strict federal rules barring them from water-stressed regions like ours, mandating 100% clean energy, and protecting communities from environmental harm. We also need to address workforce displacement and regulate AI to ensure transparency, accountability, and public safety. Utah's water, air, and utility bills shouldn't be sacrificed to subsidize Big Tech's profit margins."
- Farrell: "Ban them. Data centers should not be built in Utah. The proposed Box Elder data center alone would consume the equivalent water demand of a mid-sized city in a year, water we don’t have, in a state fighting against losing its largest body of water. I’ll sponsor legislation banning new data centers anywhere in Utah and require existing operators to disclose and fully offset water and energy usage. We either save the GSL or we have data centers; we can’t have both."
- McAdams: "I oppose the proposed Box Elder County Stratos project. I don’t oppose data centers categorically, but we should not approve them unless they meet high standards for water conservation, clean energy, transparency, community engagement, and real public benefit. This project is too close to the Great Salt Lake and adds pressure to an already endangered body of water. These facilities should benefit surrounding communities, not a giveaway to another billionaire running up the tab."
- Mohamed: "I support a ban on building any hyper-scale data centers like the one proposed in Box Elder or other water stressed areas in the nation. We are facing one of the worst droughts, we cannot have a policy that compromises our real world for a virtual one. When it comes to a broader data center policy framework, I support mandatory water neutrality standards, cost-causation protections so residents are not subsidizing private infrastructure, and strong ecosystem, noise, and public health standards."
The Trump administration's approach to immigration enforcement has destabilized communities, and local leaders have pushed back against an ICE detention center planned for Salt Lake City. If elected, what specific actions would you take to advocate for Salt Lake's interests related to the detention center and immigration enforcement?
- Blouin: "I ran ‘ICE Out’ legislation in the State Senate to stop masked federal agents from terrorizing our neighbors. I've been protesting ICE and the Salt Lake detention center, and I'll keep showing up. In Congress, I'll fight to abolish ICE and to prosecute the agents and officials responsible for the atrocities. I'll use my oversight authority to demand access to every ICE facility in Utah, inspect conditions firsthand, and demand justice."
- Farrell: "Block the detention center by any means. I will abolish ICE, ban officers and agents from wearing masks, end qualified immunity for officers and agents who break the law, and create a real pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents, Dreamers, TPS holders, and farmworkers, coupled with expanded work visas and strong worker protections so corporations can’t exploit immigrant workers to drive down wages. I will also drive federal funding to more immigration judges for faster processing."
- McAdams: "I oppose the proposed ICE detention center in Salt Lake City, and I would use every congressional tool I have to stop it. That means oversight, appropriations, and public pressure to demand answers: who benefits, what it costs, how families will be treated, and how local communities are affected. I’d fight unlawful raids, require due process, protect Dreamers and mixed-status families, and push for comprehensive immigration reform so Washington stops using immigrants as a political weapon."
- Mohamed: "I strongly oppose the building of an iCE detention center in Salt Lake. Doing so would only create fear in our immigrant communities and result in legal abuses like those in California and Minnesota. I would support abolishing ICE, defunding ICE, increasing the number of immigration judges, guarantee removal defense in detention proceedings, support bills that end private and mass detention systems, and work to both stop family separations while reuniting families that our government separated."
The 2034 Winter Olympics will likely be a catalyst for some public improvements, as we get ready to host the world in Salt Lake. What's one project you would prioritize and use some congressional muscle to support between now and 2034?
- Blouin: "The Rio Grande Plan is exactly the kind of bold, visionary infrastructure we should be investing in. Putting the rails underground and reactivating the Rio Grande Depot as a central transit hub would reconnect east and west Salt Lake, end the dangerous freight crossings that have divided neighborhoods since 1870, and unlock 75 acres for housing and development. It tackles transit, housing, and historic preservation in one project. I'll fight for the federal dollars to make it real."
- Farrell: "A real transit backbone for the Wasatch Front. I will push federal infrastructure dollars toward extending and expanding TRAX, electrifying and adding frequency to FrontRunner, building a Salt Lake-to-Park City light rail connection, and adding airport links worthy of an Olympic host. Olympics-driven highway widening is the wrong legacy, congestion always returns, but expanded rail capacity is permanent."
- McAdams: "Conservation of the Central Wasatch should be our Olympic legacy. As mayor, I helped bring stakeholders together around the Mountain Accord and worked to protect the Central Wasatch. In Congress, I’ll continue leading the effort to pass the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act. In the Olympic spirit, Utah can rise to this moment by resolving generational disputes and securing lasting protections for the towering mountain peaks and majestic canyons that define us."
- Mohamed: "The biggest is improving public transportation options, specifically environmentally sustainable options across the City. We are going to see an influx of people come in from all over the world and the Trax route to the airport is slow and inefficient. We should ensure the impact of this tourism as green as possible. I would also like to support programs that make current infrastructure more sustainable like initiatives to turn our buses that go to and from our canyons electric."
Want to dig even deeper? Follow these links to read more responses from the candidates:
