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

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. 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. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

, representing the 10th Assembly district from 2015 through 2022. He previously served on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.

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 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 urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscon ...

, studying educational policy and

community studies Community studies is an academic field drawing on both sociology and anthropology and the social research methods of ethnography and participant observation in the study of community. In academic settings around the world, community studies is v ...

. After 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 headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The school was established in 1893 and is the largest research center in eastern Wisconsin ...

's Violence Prevention Initiative Steering Committee and the City of Milwaukee's Homicide 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. He was the lead author of a

living wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking lab ...

bill requiring all companies doing business with Milwaukee County to be paid $11.32 an hour.

County Executive A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county. The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...

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 ...

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

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

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

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, 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) for the Democratic nomination for

Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin The lieutenant governor of Wisconsin is the first person in the line of succession of Wisconsin's executive branch, thus serving as governor in the event of the death, resignation, removal, impeachment, absence from the state, or incapacity due to ...

; fellow Democrat Darrin Madison was elected to succeed him in the Assembly.

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 majo ...

as a superdelegate, and pledged his support to Bernie Sanders. 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 (United States), 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 worke ...

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

Ben Wikler Benjamin McDonald Wikler (born February 3, 1981) is an American politician and the chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin since July 2019. He is a former Senior Advisor at MoveOn. Early life and education Ben Wikler grew up in Madison, ...

References

External links

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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 Republica ...

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 American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 1987 births