Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

On Saturday, the first prominent Democrat joined the race for Utah’s 4th Congressional District. Darlene McDonald, author and activist, announced her candidacy on Twitter through a press release.

“I’m running for Congress because I’m tired of seeing endless distractions while our country faces serious and very real problems that are being ignored,” McDonald said in a release. “As a mom and grandma, I want to ensure our future generations have a path to education, employment, and home ownership.”

McDonald is the founder of the 1UtahProject, a nonprofit focused on voting rights within the state.

On their page, McDonald is also listed as a member of the boards of the Utah Women’s Democratic Club and Executive Committee of the Utah Democratic Party. She is also a board member of Alliance for a Better Utah and was chair of the Utah Black Roundtable from 2019-20.

McDonald previously ran, unsuccessfully, for Salt Lake County Council in 2019 and for Utah’s 4th District in 2017. McDonald lost in the Democratic primary to Ben McAdams, who went on to defeat Mia Love. McDonald staked her position then as the opposite of McAdams, saying at the Democratic convention, “I’m the progressive in this race.”

Rick Bowmer, Associated Press

McAdams was defeated by Rep. Burgess Owens in 2020. Also running for the 4th District seat is Jake Hunsaker, a former Wall Street worker running in the Republican primary against Owens.

“We can’t afford to simply cross our fingers and hope everything works out. We need members of Congress who, instead of focusing on distractions, do real work on real issues that affect real Americans from every walk of life,” McDonald wrote.

In addition to cheers and messages of support and offers to volunteer from followers on her Twitter account, she posted a link to her ActBlue account for donations.

Under the recently approved congressional maps, Utah County is more evenly split between the 3rd District, represented by former Provo Mayor John Curtis, and the 4th District, which now includes residents of Lehi west of the highway, parts west of Utah Lake and everything south of 400 South in Springville until the Sanpete/Sevier county line.

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