SALT LAKE CITY — Armed with new poll results in his favor, Democratic candidate for First Congressional District Nate Blouin repeated his call for other progressive-leaning candidates to drop out giving him a clearer shot of beating more moderate Democrat Ben McAdams.
"We have built a campaign that can actually win this race," Blouin told reporters on Monday. "That has always to been our goal, is to put a progressive in D.C."
The survey, paid for by the Blouin campaign, shows him 10 points behind McAdams in a primary. According to the survey, McAdams received 37% of the vote, Blouin received 27%, Liban Mohamed received 13% and Michael Farrell received 7%. Another 16% said they did not know who they would vote for.
Last month, Blouin used the pending survey to try to prod his fellow progressive candidates to drop out and coalesce behind him to beat McAdams. They all refused. Mohamed blasted Blouin's call as "white privilege," pointing out that he won the Utah Democratic Party's state convention while Blouin finished third. Farrell said at the time "it's giving desperation."
"We would like to see someone come in and help us do this," Blouin said Monday. "But there is a pathway in a four-way race even. That’s what the poll says."
During a news conference at Liberty Park announcing the poll results, Mohamed showed up and watched. Mohamed declined to comment to FOX 13 News at that time.
In a statement later, Mohamed criticized the polling.
"The poll commissioned by Nate’s campaign surveyed just 400 people and failed to reflect the full demographics of our district. The only district-wide democratic contest that has tested who can unite progressives and defeat Ben McAdams remains the Utah Democratic Convention, and we won it with a majority," he said. "Unity is not a principle you embrace only when you pay for a different outcome. It must be rooted in the will of the community. I will not abandon the thousands of people who organized, participated, and earned that victory. Doing so would undermine not only the movement we have built together, but the very democratic process that brought us here. It’s our time to lead."
Farrell told FOX 13 News on Monday he would not be dropping out.
"I'm not surprised that Nate came out second in a poll funded by and with questions drafted by Nate. I am surprised that this latest poll shows Nate gained essentially no support since the previous poll he funded in March," he said in a text message. "People know Nate and his support is capped around 25-27%. I'm excited to continue talking to voters from now until June 23."
