Craig Bowden

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Craig Bowden

Libertarian Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 6, 2018

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Marine Corps

Years of service

2003 - 2010

Personal

Profession

Business owner

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Craig Bowden (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Utah. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.

Bowden was also a Libertarian candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 1st Congressional District of Utah in 2014 and 2016. Craig Bowden lost the general election on November 4, 2014.

Biography

Bowden served in the United States Marine Corps for seven and a half years, including two tours in Iraq. He received an honorable discharge in 2010. He owns his own business, which provides firearms training and patriotic supply.

Elections

2018

See also: United States Senate election in Utah, 2018

General election

Mitt Romney defeated Jenny Wilson, Timothy Noel Aalders, Craig Bowden, and Reed McCandless in the general election for U.S. Senate Utah on November 6, 2018.

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Utah

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mitt Romney (R)	62.6	665,215
		Jenny Wilson (D)	30.9	328,541
		Timothy Noel Aalders (Constitution Party)	2.7	28,774
		Craig Bowden (L)	2.6	27,607
		Reed McCandless (Independent American Party)	1.2	12,708
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	52

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,062,897
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Utah Democratic Party held a nominating convention on April 28, 2018. Jenny Wilson, a Salt Lake County councilwoman, was selected via convention with 81 percent of the vote.

Republican primary election

Mitt Romney defeated Mike Kennedy in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Utah on June 26, 2018.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Utah

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mitt Romney	71.3	240,021
		Mike Kennedy	28.7	96,771

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 336,792
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2016

See also: Utah's 1st Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Rob Bishop (R) defeated Peter Clemens (D), Craig Bowden (L), and Chadwick Fairbanks III (Independent) in the general election on November 8, 2016. David Yu-Lin Chiu was eliminated in the Republican convention on April 23, 2016.

U.S. House, Utah District 1 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rob Bishop Incumbent	65.9%	182,925
	Democratic	Peter Clemens	26.4%	73,380
	Libertarian	Craig Bowden	5.9%	16,296
	Independent	Chadwick Fairbanks III	1.7%	4,850
Total Votes				277,451
Source: Utah Secretary of State

2014

See also: Utah's 1st Congressional District elections, 2014

Bowden ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Utah's 1st District. Craig Bowden lost the general election on November 4, 2014.

Election results

U.S. House, Utah District 1 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rob Bishop Incumbent	64.8%	84,231
	Democratic	Donna McAleer	28%	36,422
	Libertarian	Craig Bowden	3.7%	4,847
	Independent American	Dwayne Vance	3.5%	4,534
Total Votes				130,034
Source: Utah Lieutenant Governor, "Elections,"

Campaign themes

2018

Campaign website

Bowden’s campaign website stated the following:

“	Economic Liberty All members of society should have abundant opportunities to achieve economic success. A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. Each person has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market. Non Interventionist Foreign Policy We have close to 900 bases located around the world. We have been kept in a constant state of responding to conflicts that don’t involve U.S. interests, or as some have alleged, been wars for profit. We have seen two major wars in the last decade, and escalations continue because of the foreign policy of interventionism. Second Amendment The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights—life, liberty, and justly acquired property—against aggression. This right inheres in the individual, who may agree to be aided by any other individual or group. As your Senator I would affirm the individual right recognized by the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms, and oppose the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights of self-defense. Ending the War on Drugs Ending the war on drugs is extremely important, not only for medical reasons with whole plant reform, but also treating people that have addictions as a medical issue instead of a criminal one. Nearly 1/3 of all people in jails and prisons are non violent drug offenders, who only made a choice for their own bodies, and more than half of that is marijuana. Criminal Justice Reform The prescribed role of government is to protect the rights of every individual including the right to life, liberty and property. Criminal laws should be limited in their application to violations of the rights of others through force or fraud, or to deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Privacy and Security It is my intent to repeal the USA Patriot Act and any legislation similar to it, in order to preserve our civil liberties and protect the privacy of U.S. citizens. I will be sponsoring legislation to remove this law from our books. Far too often legislation is passed hurriedly, without worrying about the possible implications. This is one of those incidents.	”
—Craig Bowden’s campaign website (2018)

2016

The following issues were listed on Bowden's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“	Strong Second Amendment Supporter: The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights — life, liberty, and justly acquired property — against aggression. This right inheres in the individual, who may agree to be aided by any other individual or group. Craig affirms the individual right recognized by the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms, and opposes the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights of self-defense. Repeal the Patriot Act and investigate the NSA: Craig advocates for individual privacy and government transparency. He is committed to ending government’s practice of spying on everyone. He supports the rights recognized by the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our persons, homes, property, and communications. Election and Campaign Reform: Craig supports election systems that are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state and local levels. As private voluntary groups, political parties should be allowed to establish their own rules for nomination procedures, primaries and conventions. He calls for an end to any tax-financed subsidies to candidates or parties. Immigration and Trade Solutions: Craig supports the removal of governmental impediments to free trade. Political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries. Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders. Veteran Advocacy: Craig is an outspoken defender of the men and women of the armed forces. He believes that one of the greatest ways to protect our veterans is to avoid conflicts around the world. Because previous administrations and their Congress have sent our men and women to war, he will fight to ensure they receive what they were promised by the U.S. government and advocate for a more fair and speedy process in their disability and health claims.	”
—Craig Bowden's campaign website, http://www.craig4congress.org/issues.html

2014

Bowden submitted the following statement about his political philosophy to Ballotpedia: "I am pushing for a restoration of the United States Constitution as the law of the land. I chose to run for office to break the Democrat/Republican power struggle and show that we must choose the people over party."

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Craig Bowden campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2018	U.S. Senate Utah	Lost general	$44,654	$43,055
Grand total			$44,654	$43,055
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Bowden is married to Elizabeth, and they have a daughter, two sons and two stepsons.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Craig Bowden Utah Senate. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Craig Bowden - Google News

See also

• United States House of Representatives
• United States Senate election in Utah, 2018
• Utah's 1st Congressional District election, 2016
• Utah's 1st Congressional District elections, 2014
• Utah's 1st Congressional District

External links

Suggest a link

• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page
• Campaign Twitter page

Footnotes

[show]

Utah's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Curtis (R)

Mike Lee (R)

Representatives

District 1

Blake Moore (R)

District 2

Celeste Maloy (R)

District 3

Mike Kennedy (R)

District 4

Burgess Owens (R)

Republican Party (6)