Incoming Rep. Ben McAdams honored his campaign promise on Thursday, declining to vote for Nancy Pelosi to become the next Speaker of the House.
Pelosi didn’t need McAdams’ vote to win. McAdams was one of 15 Democrats in the House who did not vote for Pelosi. She didn’t need his vote as she defeated Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy 219-192.
McAdams cast his ballot for Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy, who is the leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of centrist Democrats of which McAdams is a member.
“Moving forward, I will work with the House Speaker, Democrats and Republicans to do what’s good for Utah,” said McAdams in a Tweet shortly after casting his vote.
Today I voted for @RepStephMurphy to be Speaker of the House. Moving forward, I will work with the House Speaker, Democrats and Republicans in Congress to do what’s good for Utah. #utpol
— Ben McAdams (@BenMcAdams) January 3, 2019
McAdams repeatedly vowed to not vote for Pelosi during his 2018 campaign against incumbent Republican Mia Love. McAdams ended up winning that race by just 694 votes.
Not voting for Pelosi was a smart political move for McAdams. His 4th Congressional District in Utah is solidly Republican, with an R+20 partisan lean according to FiveThirtyEight.com. Breaking that campaign promise would be tantamount to political suicide for McAdams, who will likely face a stiff Republican challenge in 2020.
