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Mark Madsen
Mark Benson Madsen is a former Libertarian member of the Utah State Senate, representing District 13 from 2005 to 2017.
Madsen did not seek re-election to the Utah State Senate in 2016.
Party switch
On July 25, 2016, Madsen announced that he switched his party affiliation from Republican to Libertarian. Madsen attended the Republican National Convention as a Utah delegate, but he said that the convention failed to change his mind about leaving the party.
Madsen did not switch to Libertarian because of the nomination of Donald Trump, but he did cite concerns with Trump's experience. He said that his political identity has been moving towards the Libertarian Party for a while, and he switched his party because Republican legislation in Utah has "led to a population that is 'less free.'" He said that the Republican Party has moved away from "those who espouse the strict civil liberties of Thomas Jefferson and toward those who favor the progressivism of Theodore Roosevelt." He also endorsed Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson at the press conference.[1]
Biography
Madsen earned his B.A. in Spanish/American Studies from George Mason University in 2000. He then received his J.D. from Brigham Young University in 2003.
Madsen worked as General Counsel/Special Project Manager for the Larry H. Miller Group from 1999 to 2005. He then worked as General Counsel for Eagle Mountain Development from 2005 to 2008.
Madsen served as Councilman for Eagle Mountain City Council from 2001 to 2004.
Committee assignments
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Madsen served on the following committees:
| Utah committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice, Chair |
| • Rules |
| • Administrative Rules Review |
2013-2014
In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Madsen served on the following committees:
| Utah committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice, Chair |
| • Rules |
| • Administrative Rules Review |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Madsen served on the following committees:
| Utah committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Administrative Rules Review |
| • Health and Human Services |
| • Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice, Chair |
| • Rules |
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Madsen served on the following committees:
| Utah committee assignments, 2009 |
|---|
| • Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice |
| • Rules |
| • Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2016
- See also: Utah State Senate elections, 2016
Madsen did not seek re-election in 2016.
2016 presidential endorsement
✓ Madsen endorsed Gary Johnson for the 2016 presidential general election.[2]
- See also: Endorsements for Gary Johnson
2012
- See also: Utah State Senate elections, 2012
Madsen won re-election in the 2012 election for Utah State Senate District 13. Madsen was unopposed in the June 26 Republican primary and was unopposed in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[3]
2008
On November 4, 2008, Madsen won re-election to the 13th District Seat in the Utah State Senate, defeating opponent Kenneth Peay.[4]
Madsen raised $114,691 for his campaign, while Peay raised $13,446. [5]
| Utah State Senate, District 13 (2008) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
 Mark Madsen (R)
|
29,762 | 73.6% | ||
| Kenneth Peay (D) | 10,661 | 26.4% | ||
Campaign finance summary
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Utah scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2017
In 2017, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 23 through March 9. There was also a special session on September 20.
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on economic issues.
- Legislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
- Legislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to education.
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 25 through March 10.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 26 through March 12.
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2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the 60th Utah State Legislature, second year, was in session from January 27 to March 14.
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2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the 60th Utah State Legislature, first year, was in session from January 28 to March 14.
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2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the 59th Utah State Legislature, second year, was in session from January 23 to March 8.
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2011
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
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In 2011, the 59th Utah State Legislature, first year, was in session from January 24 to March 10.
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The Libertas Institute Index
The Libertas Institute is a libertarian-leaning think tank located in Utah.[9] Each year the organization releases a Legislative Index for Utah State Representatives and Senators.
2010
Mark Madsen received an index rating of 86%.
2011
Mark Madsen received an index rating of 55%.
2012
Mark Madsen received an index rating of 73%.
2013
Mark Madsen received an index rating of 75%.
The Sutherland Institute Scorecard
The Sutherland Institute, "a conservative public policy think tank" in Utah, releases its Scorecard for Utah State Representatives and Senators once a year. The Score Card gives each legislator a score based on how they voted in the prior legislative term on specific issues which the Sutherland Institute thought were pro-conservative policies.[10]
2012
Mark Madsen received a score of 100% in the 2012 score card.[11]
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
Madsen was an at-large delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Utah. All 40 delegates from Utah were bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention.[12] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates. For more on what happened to his delegates, see this page.
Delegate rules
Delegates from Utah to the Republican National Convention were elected at the Utah state GOP convention in April 2016. All Utah delegates were bound by the results of the state's caucus on the first ballot. If a candidate allocated delegates did not compete at the national convention, then his or her delegates were reallocated and bound to the remaining candidates.
Utah primary results
- See also: Presidential election in Utah, 2016
| Utah Republican Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Ted Cruz |
69.2% | 122,567 | 40 | |
| John Kasich | 16.8% | 29,773 | 0 | |
| Donald Trump | 14% | 24,864 | 0 | |
| Totals | 177,204 | 40 | ||
| Source: The New York Times and CNN | ||||
Delegate allocation
Utah had 40 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 12 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's four congressional districts). District delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 15 percent of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any district-level delegates. If a candidate received more than 50 percent of the statewide caucus vote, he or she received all of the state's district delegates.[13][14]
Of the remaining 28 delegates, 25 served at large. Utah's at-large delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 15 percent of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any at-large delegates. If a candidate received more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, he or she won all of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[13][14]
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Madsen and his wife Erin have four children.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Mark + Madsen + Utah + Senate"
- All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.
See also
- Utah State Legislature
- Utah State Senate
- Senate Committees
- Utah Joint Committees
- Utah state legislative districts
External links
- Official Utah State Senate website
- Profile from Open States
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign Contributions: 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004
Footnotes
- ↑ Salt Lake Tribune, "Utah state senator bolts Republican Party for Libertarian camp," accessed July 25, 2016
- ↑ Reason.com, "Utah State Sen. Mark Madsen Switching Parties from Republican to Libertarian, Endorsing Gary Johnson for President," July 25, 2016
- ↑ Utah 2012 candidate filings
- ↑ 2008 election results, Utah State Senate, District 13
- ↑ District 13 Utah State Senate spending, 2008
- ↑ GrassRoots, "2015 Legislative Report," accessed May 30, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Utah Legislative Ratings, "UTAH HOUSE Scorecard - Compiled 2015 Conservative Liberal Index," May 19, 2015
- ↑ GrassRoots, "2015 Legislative Report," accessed May 30, 2017
- ↑ Libertas Institute: "Legislator Indexes," accessed January 21, 2014
- ↑ Sutherland Institute, "2012 Legislative Session," accessed March 29, 2014
- ↑ Sutherland Institute, "2012 Sutherland Institute Legislative Scorecard," accessed October 1, 2014
- ↑ Utah GOP, "National/Alternate National Delegate & Elector Official Results," accessed May 6, 2016
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by NA |
Utah Senate District 13 2005–2017 |
Succeeded by Jake Anderegg (R) |
