Russell "Rusty" Bowers (born October 20, 1952) is an American politician and the former

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Senate. The House convenes in the legislative chambers at the Arizona State C ...

. A member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

, he represented the 25th legislative district from 2015 to 2023. He was elected Speaker in 2019. Bowers previously represented the 21st legislative district in the Arizona House from 1993 to 1997 and in the

Arizona Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms w ...

from 1997 to 2001. He is a classically trained artist specializing in watercolor, oil painting, and sculpting, and he has also been involved in the construction and education industries. In February 2022, Bowers filed paperwork to run for the

in the

10th 10 (ten) is the even natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. It is the first double-digit number. The rea ...

district. He lost to Dave Farnsworth in the Republican primary.

Early life and education

Bowers, who is a fourth-generation Arizonan, grew up on a sheep ranch in Chino Valley. He attended

Mesa Community College Mesa Community College (MCC) is a public community college in Mesa, Arizona. It is the largest of the 10 community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District, the largest community college district in the United States in ter ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

. 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 Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

, he spent two years as a

Mormon missionary Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and commu ...

in Mexico.

Refusal to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Arizona

Bowers, despite being a strong Republican along party lines, refused to cooperate with President Trump,

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

and their unconstitutional attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. Bowers publicly stated that there was no evidence whatsoever of election fraud that would otherwise mandate rejection of the results of the

2020 United States presidential election in Arizona The 2020 United States presidential election in Arizona was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election, in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. Arizona voters chose 11 e ...

. On June 21, 2022, Bowers testified before the House January 6 committee. As part of his testimony, Bowers stated that when he asked

for evidence regarding election fraud claims, Giuliani responded, "We have lots of theories, we just don't have the evidence". Bowers also denied a bill in the

which would have allowed the state legislature to override the results of a presidential election in Arizona. In December 2020, colleague Senator

Kelly Townsend Kelly Townsend (born September 27, 1968) is an American Republican politician. She was a member of the Arizona Senate representing District 16 from 2021 to 2023, and previously was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2013 to 202 ...

wanted Bowers to call the legislature into session and appoint an alternate slate of electors. When he refused, Townsend

doxed Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...

Bowers on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, revealing his home address, and urged her militia followers to protest at his home. For his efforts in resisting the attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, Bowers was awarded the

John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award The Profile in Courage Award is a private award given to recognize displays of courage similar to those John F. Kennedy originally described in his book of the same name. It is given to individuals (often elected officials) who, by acting in acco ...

. He was one of five honorees to receive the award in 2022. Nevertheless, on July 19, 2022, the Arizona Republican Party censured Bowers for his resistance. Also in response to his resistance, in January 2021, a convoy of Trump supporters rolled up in front of his property, with megaphones and a giant sign accusing him of pedophilia. At the end of December, 2023, Bowers was

swatted Swatting is a criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by ...

, with the police getting a false alarm having accused the owner of the premises of having killed his wife. He also received threatening phone calls and e-mails. In 2022, Bowers ran for the State Senate, as he was being termed out from the State House. He lost the Republican primary for the State Senate by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, with the loss being attributed to his resistance to overturning the 2020 presidential election. In spite of the loss, Bowers said he had no regrets about his resistance and "would

ave done ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

it again in a heartbeat".

Personal life

Bowers is married to Donetta Russell, with whom he has had seven children. Bowers is a painter and rancher. His property was deeply affected by a 2021 fire that ravaged his farm, and burnt his painting studio where much of his work, as well as a significant portion of his legislative papers, was stored. In late January 2021, Bowers announced the death of his daughter, Kacey Rae Bowers at 42, who had been fighting

hepatic cancer Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer in adults and is currently the most common cause of death in people with cirrhosis. HCC is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It occurs in th ...

for a "long period of time." Her last weeks were troubled by the presence of Trump supporters, one armed, demonstrating noisily outside Bowers' home.

Elections

* 2014 – Bowers and

Justin Olson Justin Olson (born 1979) is an American politician who served as a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission. Olson is a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives representing District 25 from January 14, 2013, until 2017. He is ...

defeated Haydee Dawson, Michelle Udall and Jerry Walker in the Republican primary. Olson and Bowers defeated David Butler, Sheila Ogea, and Libertarian Michael Kielsky in the general election, with Bowers receiving 33,220 votes. * 2016 – Bowers and Udall defeated Ross Groen in the Republican primary. Bowers and Udall defeated Kathleen Rahn, with Bowers receiving 51,160 votes. * 2018 – Bowers and Udall defeated Marlene Hinton in the Republican primary. Bowers and Olson defeated Johnny Martin in the general election, with Bowers receiving 30,712 votes.

Awards

Presidential Citizens Medal The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the President of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on Nov ...

, 2023

References

External links

Official page
at the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...

Ballotpedia Page
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, Russell 1952 births 21st-century American politicians Brigham Young University alumni Latter Day Saints from Arizona Living people Painters from Arizona People associated with the 2020 United States presidential election Politicians from Mesa, Arizona Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Republican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Sculptors from Arizona Speakers of the Arizona House of Representatives