Burgess in Daily Herald: Former NFL player Burgess Owens enters 4th Congressional District race
A former National Football League star and founder of a Utah-based nonprofit that serves disenfranchised youth has entered the race to represent Utah’s 4th Congressional District.
Burgess Owens, who spent 10 seasons in the NFL and won a Super Bowl championship in 1980 with the Oakland Raiders, is running as a Republican to challenge Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams, who beat incumbent Republican Rep. Mia Love last year in a closely contested race.
“After 10 seasons in the NFL, I used the drive and work-ethic that my family instilled in me to start a career in business,” Owens tweeted on Nov. 9. “Giving back to my community has always been important to me, and it’s why I want to serve you as your Congressman.”
Owens, who founded Second Chance 4-Youth, a Utah-based nonprofit that helps troubled and incarcerated youth, has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump and made multiple appearances on Fox News applauding the president’s actions.
In September 2018, Owens, who is African American, went on Fox Business to discuss a Nike ad featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who gained fame and notoriety for kneeling during the National Anthem in a protest of police violence against black Americans.
“As we see a little less of the kneeling, we’re still going to see the narrative by Nike,” Owens said about the ad. “And that is a Marxist (Kaepernick), who is going to be the face and commercial of the NFL going forward.”
During an interview on The Blaze with conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Owens said he is running for Congress “to get our country back (and) to get our kids back.”
He said that working with at-risk kids has inspired him to actively fight against liberal and Democratic values that he sees as being damaging to the black community and country as a whole.
“If we don’t get back our country from the leftists, we will allow the leftists to do for the rest of our country what (they have) done for my community,” said Owens. “And what they’ve done to my community, Glenn, is a travesty.”
Owens said that he has heard McAdams is “a nice guy,” but that the Democratic Party he represents is “not good for America.”
“It’s not about personality,” Owens said. “It’s not about party. It’s about policy.”
Owens’ platform focuses is based on four tenets proposed by prominent black scholar Booker T. Washington, according to a Nov. 6 press release.
First, an emphasis on education governed at the state level to ensure children “have the best education possible.” Second, a focus on service, humility and charity to “get back the fundamentals of taking care of our neighbor.” Third, incentivizing free market industry and entrepreneurship. And fourth, encouraging Americans to “produce families of respect, purpose and vision.”
In running for office, Owens said he hopes to put an end to polarized politics and bring the country together.
“We have never been more divided than we are today,” Owens said during his interview on The Blaze.
Owens is the author of a number of nonfiction books, including “Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps” and “Why I Stand: From Freedom to the Killing Fields of Socialism.”
The primary election will take place next year on June 23 and the general election will be on Nov. 3. The other Republicans running for the seat are Kathleen Anderson, Chris Biesinger, Kim Coleman, Daniel Hemmert and Jay Macfarland, according to Ballotpedia.
Connor Richards covers government, the environment and south Utah County for the Daily Herald. He can be reached at crichards@heraldextra.com and 801-344-2599.