David Bowen (born January 28, 1987) is an American politician from

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. He was a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

, representing the 10th Assembly district from 2015 through 2022. He previously served on the

Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is the legislative branch of the government of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. Supervisors are elected to the board in nonpartisan elections. There are 18 supervisors. The county board has seve ...

Early life and education

Bowen was born in Milwaukee, the son of Jamaican immigrants. He graduated with honors from Bradley Tech High School in 2005. He participated in the youth leadership program of the Milwaukee non-profit organization Urban Underground and the

Americorps AmeriCorps ( ; officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in ...

program, Public Allies. He volunteered with Urban Underground attending the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a Public university, public Urban university, urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropo ...

, studying

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and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. While at UW-M, Bowen became program director at Urban Underground, served on the

Medical College of Wisconsin The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is a private medical school, pharmacy school, and graduate school of sciences in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The school was established in 1893 and is the largest research center in eastern Wisconsi ...

's Violence Prevention Initiative Steering Committee and the City of Milwaukee's

Homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

Review Commission.

Elected office

In April 2012 he was elected to the County Board for District 10, at which time he was the youngest member of that board and one of the youngest black elected officials in the history of the

Milwaukee metropolitan area The Milwaukee metropolitan area (also known as Metro Milwaukee or Greater Milwaukee) is a major metropolitan area located in Southeastern Wisconsin, consisting of the city of Milwaukee and some of the surrounding area. There are several defini ...

. He was the lead author of a living wage bill requiring all companies doing business with Milwaukee County to be paid $11.32 an hour. County Executive

Chris Abele Christopher Seton Abele (born January 28, 1967) is an American businessman and Democratic Party politician. He served as the 6th Milwaukee County Executive from 2011 to 2020. Abele is the son of American businessman John Abele, the co-founder o ...

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...

of the ordinance was over-ridden. In 2014, when Democratic incumbent

Sandy Pasch Sandra Pasch (''née'' Kawczynski; born May 19, 1954) is an American politician and nurse. She served six years in the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Democrat (2009–2015), representing north-central Milwaukee County. Background Pasch was ...

announced that she would not seek re-election, Bowen was one of four candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for

in the 10th Assembly district. Bowen received a majority of the votes in the August 2014 Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

, and was unopposed in the general election. He was subsequently re-elected in 2016, 2018, and 2020, without facing an opponent. In 2022, Bowen ran (unsuccessfully dropping out early) for the Democratic nomination for

Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin The lieutenant governor of Wisconsin is the first person in the Gubernatorial lines of succession in the United States#Wisconsin, line of succession of Wisconsin's executive branch, thus serving as governor in the event of the death, resignation, ...

; fellow Democrat

Darrin Madison Darrin Brian Madison Jr. (born February 1, 1997) is an American justice activist and Democratic politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Wisconsin's 10th Assembly district since January 2 ...

was elected to succeed him in the Assembly. In 2023, he ran for an open seat on the

Milwaukee Common Council The municipal government of the U.S. city of Milwaukee, located in the state of Wisconsin, consists of a mayor and common council. Traditionally supporting progressive politicians and movements, this community has consistently proved to be a stro ...

, but fell 17 votes short of his opponent.

Politics

Bowen attended the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the maj ...

as a

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

, and pledged his support to

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

. Bowen was a superdelegate by virtue of his role as vice chair of the

Democratic Party of Wisconsin The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is currently headed by chair Ben Wikler. Important issues for the state party include support for workers and unions, strong public edu ...

. In 2019, he ran for chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, but was defeated by Ben Wikler.

References

External links

* *
Representative David Bowen
at

Wisconsin Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republ ...

10th Assembly District map (2011–2021)
at

Supervisor David Bowen, 10th District
at Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors (Archived October 9, 2014) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, David African-American state legislators in Wisconsin American politicians of Jamaican descent County supervisors in Wisconsin Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Milwaukee University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni Living people 21st-century African-American politicians 1987 births 21st-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature