David Bowen (Wisconsin)

David Bowen is an American from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the former administrator of a not-for-profit organization, a member of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, and the Democratic nominee for the Wisconsin State Assembly's 10th district. He had no opposition in the November 2014 general election ballot, and was elected as successor to retiring fellow Democrat Sandy Pasch.

Background

Bowen was born in Milwaukee, 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, studying educational policy and community studies.

After UW-M, Bowen became Program Director at Urban Underground, served on the Medical College of 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 bill requiring all companies doing business with Milwaukee County to be paid $11.32 an hour. County Executive Chris Abele's veto of the ordinance was over-ridden.

In 2014, when Democratic incumbent Sandy Pasch announced that she would not seek re-election, Bowen was one of four candidates seeking the Democratic nomination. In the August 2014 primary election, Bowen received 3,991 votes (52%); to 1,554 for substance abuse counselor Bria Grant; 1336 votes for Tia Terhorst, Abele's political director and lobbyist; and 480 for lawyer, author and Democratic Party activist Sara Lee Johann. In this heavily-Democratic district, no candidate filed for any other party's nomination or as an independent.