Daniel Beckstrand

Daniel Beckstrand (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Utah's 4th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic convention on April 25, 2020.

Beckstrand completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2020

Utah's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 30 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Utah District 4

Burgess Owens defeated incumbent Ben McAdams, John Molnar, Jonia Broderick (Unofficially withdrew), and Jonathan Peterson in the general election for U.S. House Utah District 4 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Burgess Owens (R)	47.7	179,688
	Ben McAdams (D)	46.7	175,923
	John Molnar (L)	3.5	13,053
	Jonia Broderick (United Utah Party) (Unofficially withdrew)	2.1	8,037
	Jonathan Peterson (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	29

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 376,730
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Jonathan Lopez (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Utah District 4

Burgess Owens defeated Kim Coleman, Jay Mcfarland, and Trent Christensen in the Republican primary for U.S. House Utah District 4 on June 30, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Burgess Owens	43.5	49,456
	Kim Coleman	24.3	27,575
	Jay Mcfarland	21.5	24,456
	Trent Christensen	10.7	12,165

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 113,652
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Daniel Hemmert (R)
Salvador Giove (R)

Democratic convention

Democratic convention for U.S. House Utah District 4

Incumbent Ben McAdams defeated Daniel Beckstrand in the Democratic convention for U.S. House Utah District 4 on April 25, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Ben McAdams (D)
	Submit photo	Daniel Beckstrand (D)

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican convention

Republican convention for U.S. House Utah District 4

Kim Coleman and Burgess Owens defeated Kathleen Anderson, Chris Biesinger, and Cindy Thompson in the Republican convention for U.S. House Utah District 4 on April 25, 2020.

		Candidate
		Kathleen Anderson (R)
	Submit photo	Chris Biesinger (R)
✔		Kim Coleman (R)
✔		Burgess Owens (R)
	Submit photo	Cindy Thompson (R)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

Daniel Beckstrand completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Beckstrand's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a 29 year old Utah native and I live in South Jordan, Utah, with my partner of 6 years. I am a Utah native, born and raised in St. George, and I have lived across the State including in Orem, Logan, Salt Lake City, and now South Jordan. I studied communications and political science at Utah State and Utah Valley University and I have been passionate about politics my entire life. I worked for many years in the healthcare industry, and I saw first-hand how people struggled to afford basic procedures and get insurance coverage.

I believe that this Utah's 4th district is ready for progressive representation and a candidate who will fight for policies that truly benefit everyone. People know that the status quo isn't working for them, and they need a candidate who will give them something to get out and vote for. That is why I support the progressive platform, including policies such as Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, tuition-free education, and more.

This campaign will not accept corporate PAC money or lobbyist money because I believe that money is the number one corrupting influence in Congress. It is why I will fight to get money out of politics and return the power back to the people where it belongs.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Campaign Finance Reform
Medicare for All
Green New Deal

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Having worked in healthcare for many years, my job was to directly deal with insurance companies and figure out coverage. It became increasingly frustrating to see how insurance companies prioritized profit over patient care, and costs were often pushed unfairly onto the patient for services. This led me to become supportive of Medicare for All, which would eliminate private insurance companies and guarantee coverage for every single American through a single payer system.

I am also passionate about the Green New Deal and creating a framework that will address our usage of fossil fuels. Salt Lake and surrounding areas have notoriously poor air quality, especially in the winter, due to the usage of fossil fuels. I believe that only aggressive policies will provide the solution we need to clear up our air and transition entirely to renewable energy sources.

I also support cancelling student loan debt and ensuring tuition-free public colleges, universities, and trade schools. Education is the #1 investment we can make into our nation's future and wellbeing, and that means guaranteeing everyone the opportunity to attend.

We also have to get big money out of politics and transition to public financing of elections. Corporate and lobbyist influence is the number one corrupting force in Congress and we have got to change that. That is why this campaign will not accept corporate PACs or lobbyist money. We must overturn Citizen's United and return the power to the people.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a person I look up to, an example I look to follow, and the inspiration for this campaign run. AOC proved that it is possible to organize an entirely grassroots campaign and with the help of the people oust a corporate Democrat who wasn't serving his constituents. She has also been a firebrand in Congress, drawing attention to critical inequalities and failures of our political system that have left the working class behind. We need more people like her in Congress who are willing to speak out against the system and fight for policies that will restore confidence in Congress and return the power back to the people.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

One of the greatest challenges that the U.S. will face over the next decade is the increasing influence of money and lobbyists in politics. As long as we continue to allow big money to influence our politicians, they will continue to work on their behalf, and not on behalf of their constituents. If we are to be successful in passing overwhelmingly popular policies such as Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and tuition-free public education, then we have to start by eliminating the barrier of lobbyists and big money.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

External links

Footnotes

[show]

Utah's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Curtis (R)

Mike Lee (R)

Representatives

District 1

Blake Moore (R)

District 2

Celeste Maloy (R)

District 3

Mike Kennedy (R)

District 4

Burgess Owens (R)

Republican Party (6)

	v • e State of Utah Salt Lake City (capital)
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Government	Who represents me? \| U.S. President \| U.S. Congress \| Federal courts \| State executives \| State legislature \| State and local courts \| Counties \| Cities \| School districts \| Public policy

Daniel Beckstrand

Contents

Elections

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Utah District 4

Democratic primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Utah District 4

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic convention

Democratic convention for U.S. House Utah District 4

Republican convention

Republican convention for U.S. House Utah District 4

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

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