Neil Hansen (born April 6, 1959) is an American politician who served as a member of the

Utah House of Representatives The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district cont ...

from 1999 until 2011, representing the 9th district.

Early life and education

Hansen was born on April 6, 1959, in

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

. Hansen attended

Ogden–Weber Technical College Ogden–Weber Technical College (also referred to as OTECH, Ogden-Weber Tech or OWTC) is a public technical college in Ogden, Utah. It is one of the largest of the eight technical colleges within the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE). The ...

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

, and

Davis Technical College Davis Technical College (Davis Tech) is a Public college, public technical college in Kaysville, Utah. It provides competency-based education in an open-entry, open-exit environment which prepares over 6,000 high school and adult students with c ...

, but did not earn a degree.

Career

Prior to entering politics, Hansen worked in construction. He has worked as a heavy equipment operator for the Ogden City Water Department since 1981. Hansen was elected to the

in 1998. In the 2010 election, he was defeated Republican challenger Jeremy Peterson in 2010 by six percentage points. He challenged Peterson for his old seat in 2012, but lost by 20 percentage points. Hansen ran for

Utah State Treasurer The Utah state treasurer acts as the head banker for the state of Utah, handling deposits, withdrawals, redemptions of state warrants, and investments of state funds. The position was created in 1896 when Utah became a state. The Constitution of U ...

in 2016, but lost to incumbent

David Damschen David C. Damschen is an American politician from the state of Utah. A member of the Republican Party, Damschen was the Utah State Treasurer. Damschen worked for American West Bank and U.S. Bank, and then became the chief deputy to Richard Ell ...

. Hansen ran for

Governor of Utah A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

in the 2020 election, but was eliminated at the

Utah Democratic Party The Utah Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Utah. The party describes itself as a big tent party. It has very weak electoral power in the state. It controls none of Ut ...

convention. Hansen was also a candidate for Mayor of Ogden, Utah, in 2003, 2007, and 2011, losing in the non-partisan primaries to incumbent Mayor Matthew Godfrey and Mike Caldwell.

Personal life

Hansen and his ex-wife, Debbie, have eight children. He is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

References

External links

1959 births Candidates in the 2020 United States elections Democratic Party members of the Utah House of Representatives Latter Day Saints from Utah Living people Politicians from Ogden, Utah Weber State University alumni Candidates in the 2024 United States elections 20th-century members of the Utah Legislature 21st-century members of the Utah Legislature {{Utah-politician-stub