Utah, U.S. House, District 4

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams (D) defeated incumbent Mia Love (R) in the general election on November 6, 2018, to represent Utah's 4th Congressional District.

All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives were up for election in 2018. The Democratic Party gained a net total of 40 seats, winning control of the chamber. This race was identified as a 2018 battleground that might have affected partisan control of the U.S. House in the 116th Congress. Heading into the election, the Republican Party was in the majority holding 235 seats to Democrats' 193 seats, with seven vacant seats. Democrats needed to win 23 GOP-held seats in 2018 to win control of the House. From 1918 to 2016, the president’s party lost an average of 29 seats in midterm elections.

Love was first elected to the district in 2014, succeeding Jim Matheson (D), who was the first representative elected from the district after its creation following the 2010 census. In the 2016 election, Love was re-elected by a margin of 13 percentage points while Donald Trump (R) carried the district by a margin of 7 percentage points.

Election updates

October 30, 2018: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched a $250,000 television ad campaign supporting McAdams.
October 29, 2018: FreedomWorks announced a $2,500 get-out-the-vote effort in support of Love.
October 26, 2018: A New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll found Love and McAdams about even with 45 percent support each. The poll reported a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.

Polls

Utah's 4th Congressional District, 2018

Poll	Poll sponsor	Ben McAdams	Mia Love	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
The New York Times Upshot/Siena College (October 24-26, 2018)	N/A	45%	45%	9%	+/-4.7	526
Dixie Strategies (October 25, 2018)	KUTV	50%	43%	7%	+/-3.2	936
University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics (October 3-11, 2018)	The Salt Lake Tribune	46%	46%	8%	+/-4.9	403
The Mellman Group (October 7-10, 2018)	The McAdams campaign	47%	46%	7%	+/-4.9	400
Y2 Analytics (September 6-8, 2018)	The Love campaign	42%	51%	7%	+/-4.9	405
AVERAGES		46%	46.2%	7.6%	+/-4.52	534

Utah's 4th Congressional District, 2018

Poll	Poll sponsor	Ben McAdams	Mia Love	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Dan Jones & Associates (August 22-September 6, 2018)	N/A	46%	49%	5%	+/-4.9	400
The Mellman Group (August 20-23, 2018)	The McAdams campaign	44%	46%	10%	+/-4.9	400
AVERAGES		45%	47.5%	7.5%	+/-4.9	400

Utah's 4th Congressional District, 2018

Poll	Poll sponsor	Ben McAdams	Mia Love	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics (June 11-18, 2018)	N/A	39%	45%	0%	+/-5.0	379
Dan Jones & Associates (May 15 - June 5, 2018)	N/A	43%	47%	10%	+/-5.0	405
Dan Jones and Associates (February 9-21, 2018)	N/A	43%	49%	8%	+/-4.9	404
Dan Jones and Associates (January 15-22, 2018)	N/A	42%	47%	11%	+/-4.9	400
Dan Jones & Associates (October 9-18, 2017)	N/A	42%	48%	9%	+/-4.89	402
AVERAGES		41.8%	47.2%	7.6%	+/-4.94	398

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Mia Love	Republican Party	$5,786,427	$5,931,581	$42,203	As of December 31, 2018
Ben McAdams	Democratic Party	$3,384,890	$3,306,518	$78,372	As of December 31, 2018
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2018. * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Utah from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Lieutenant Governor of Utah.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Utah every four years from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Utah 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Donald Trump	45.5%	Hillary Clinton	27.5%	18.0%
2012	Mitt Romney	72.6%	Barack Obama	24.7%	47.9%
2008	John McCain	62.2%	Barack Obama	34.2%	28.0%
2004	George W. Bush	71.5%	John Kerry	26.0%	45.5%
2000	George W. Bush	66.8%	Al Gore	26.3%	40.5%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Utah from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Utah 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Mike Lee	68.2%	Misty Snow	27.1%	41.1%
2012	Orrin Hatch	65.2%	Scott Howell	30.2%	35.0%
2010	Mike Lee	61.6%	Sam Granato	32.8%	28.8%
2006	Orrin Hatch	62.5%	Pete Ashdown	31.1%	31.4%
2004	Bob Bennett	68.7%	Paul Van Dam	28.4%	40.3%
2000	Orrin Hatch	65.6%	Scott Howell	31.5%	34.1%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the six gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Utah. Included in the table are the results of the 2010 special election called to fill the seat of former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R), who had resigned to serve as U.S. Ambassador to China.

Election results (Governor), Utah 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Gary Herbert	66.7%	Mike Weinholtz	28.7%	38.0%
2012	Gary Herbert	68.4%	Peter Cooke	27.7%	40.7%
2010	Gary Herbert	64.1%	Peter Corroon	31.9%	32.2%
2008	Jon Huntsman	77.6%	Bob Springmeyer	19.7%	57.9%
2004	Jon Huntsman	57.7%	Scott Matheson	41.4%	16.3%
2000	Mike Leavitt	55.8%	Bill Orton	42.7%	13.1%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Utah in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Utah 2000-2016

Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	4	100%	0	0%	R+4
2014	4	100%	0	0%	R+4
2012	3	75%	1	25%	R+2
2010	2	66.7%	1	33.3%	R+1
2008	2	66.7%	1	33.3%	R+1
2006	2	66.7%	1	33.3%	R+1
2004	2	66.7%	1	33.3%	R+1
2002	2	66.7%	1	33.3%	R+1
2000	2	66.7%	1	33.3%	R+1

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Utah Party Control: 1992-2019
No Democratic trifectas • 28 years of Republican trifectas

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Demographics

Demographic data for Utah

	Utah	U.S.
Total population:	2,990,632	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	82,170	3,531,905
Gender
Female:	49.7%	50.8%
Race and ethnicity**
White:	87.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.1%	12.6%
Asian:	2.2%	5.1%
Native American:	1.1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.9%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.6%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	13.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.2%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	31.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,727	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	12.7%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Utah.

As of July 2017, Utah had a population of approximately 3,100,000 people, with its three largest cities being Salt Lake City (pop. est. 190,000), West Valley City (pop. est. 140,000), and Provo (pop. est. 120,000).