SALT LAKE CITY — The crowded field of Democrats vying for the party’s nomination in Utah’s new, blue-leaning 1st Congressional district shrank Saturday as state Sen. Kathleen Riebe dropped out and endorsed the frontrunner, former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams.
Riebe, who was the first candidate to get into the race, announced her departure and endorsement to delegates at the party’s Salt Lake County convention at Highland High School.
“I’m sad that big money rules the day and part of me feels like I could still squeak it out, but I don’t have the finances for it, and it makes me sad that if you don’t have the money, you can’t win,” Riebe told The Salt Lake Tribune in an interview. “It’s not about good people. It’s about fundraising constantly.”
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Riebe said she did not endorse her state senate colleague, Nate Blouin, because she doesn’t feel like Blouin is a person that Democrats can rally behind.
“He’s been too inflammatory and, in this world today, we need healing and we need cohesiveness,” she told The Tribune. “We can’t squander this opportunity and put some loose cannon in there.”
Read the full story in The Tribune HERE.
