U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah is not running for reelection this year. Neither are the other three Black Republican House members in Congress.
That group includes Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, John James of Michigan, and Wesley Hunt of Texas, most of whom left to run for other offices.
But Owens, who is 74, is done with his political career for now. His decision not to run for reelection was influenced by a new, court-ordered congressional map in the Beehive State that includes a heavily-Democratic district.
In conversation with the Deseret News earlier this month, Owens reflected on Black conservatism, its future and the legacy he wants to leave behind.
Recalling his days at the University of Miami in the late 1960s, Owens said he was the third Black student to earn a football scholarship at the school.
How many Black athletes play for the University of Miami now? “No one knows and no one cares,” said Owens.
“We look at merit,” said Owens, a former NFL champion who played for the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders. “The Republican Party’s always been about that.”
This sentiment echoes through the halls of Congress, where Owens has consistently challenged stereotypes.
He reflects a broader sentiment shared by Black conservatives who don’t want to be defined solely by their race.
Owens has faced racism and has broken down barriers. But now Owens says the barriers are broken and it’s time to move on and look beyond race.
Since Black Republicans represent a minority within an already underrepresented group, their presence in politics becomes especially significant for promoting diversity and expanding the the idea of what it means to be conservative.
Unlike the Democratic Party, which has historically deep ties within Black communities, the identity of an African American Republican can be isolating.
But in recent years, Black voters have started shifting toward the Republican Party, as evidenced by President Donald Trump’s significant gains with this group in the last election, increasing his share from 8% in 2020 to 15% in 2024.
“I’ve always wanted to see that day, when the black community came back to our roots,” said Owens.
Although some suggest the Republican Party has moved away from pluralism, Owens, a Black Republican and Latter-day Saint, defies that stereotype as the representative of Utah’s 4th Congressional District, which is overwhelmingly white.
‘If there’s four, if there’s 10, if there’s none …'
The Beehive State’s Black population is low at 1.3% — even after it ballooned by 89% from 38,539 in 2010 to 72,756 in 2023. Nationally, African Americans represent 14% of the population.
While the existing Black Republican members in the House are leaving Congress behind, Owens said they are going for a good cause.
Donalds of Florida and James of Michigan are running for governor in their respective states, while Hunt of Texas ran in the GOP primary for Sen. John Cornyn’s seat.
“Every one of my colleagues has had a mission,” Owens said of his counterparts who are “moving on to bigger, better things,” with an “exciting chapter” behind them.
Owens often collaborates with these colleagues. In 2024, congressional Black Republicans taped a series discussing politics and race, among other things, in hopes of reaching other Black voters.
At the time, Owens told the Deseret News the five lawmakers, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, had different priorities.
Where Owens zeroed in on education policy during his time in Congress, Reps. Hunt and James, both military veterans, advocated for increased defense spending and national security. Scott positions himself as an optimistic consensus builder.
But they all share a respectful friendship and a common background “that isn’t slavery,” but “achievement,” Owens said.
Shelby Steele, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, in a 1999 essay, described the loneliness that comes with being a Black conservative.
Such individuals are caught between resisting a victimization narrative that dominates mainstream racial discourse and facing skepticism from some of their white conservative colleagues — all while they are in pursuit of truth and merit, wrote Steele.
Hunt echoed Steele’s sentiments on balancing identity with competence when he offered a sharp response to news of the recent exits.
“I don’t understand how that’s relevant,” Hunt told progressive media outlet MeidasTouch. “I’m not here because I’m Black. I am here because I’m a qualified representative for Congress.”
“The one thing I don’t want to get into is this game of race bait all day, every day,” Hunt continued.
“If there’s four, if there’s 10, if there’s none, we are talking about who is the best person that is best qualified to fill a seat, regardless of the way that they look.”
Merit over everything else
Whether it’s the military, sports or politics, talent should be the determining factor, said Owens.
The Utah congressman applauded the recent Supreme Court decision Louisiana v. Callais. The ruling struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, stating that the state’s creation of a second majority-Black district was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
The seat in question in the case is currently represented by Rep. Cleo Fields, a Democrat.
“If we think it was OK to build a district based on somebody’s skin color, that is as racist as it gets,” said Owens.
The Utah congressman has also been a staunch supporter of educational freedom, especially school choice, which he calls “the civil rights issue of the 21st century.”
In 2024, Owens partnered with Rep. Brandon Williams of New York to launch a Merit Caucus for members of Congress who want to advance merit-based systems in the American education system.
A year later, speaking at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics, Owens said that the U.S. functions on merit.
“(It) is that desire to become better tomorrow, better than you were today. Merit is that concept of if I’m the best person, I’ve worked the hardest, somebody’s going to see it, and I’ll be chosen for that opportunity,” the congressman said.
Faith, courage and what comes next
The Utah congressman’s father, a college professor and veteran, and his mother, an educator who supported the local church, raised him to value education, Owens said.
“There was a faith in God that allowed them to do the things they did in the 60s, like the nonviolence movement,” he said.
Raised by a generation that returned from World War II, Owens noted that they recognized what needed to change and dismantled segregation.
Faith especially can be a source of courage to do the right thing, he added.
“As conservatives, our tenets are very simple,” Owens continued. “It’s faith, family, the free market and education.”
Owens returned to his faith during his final year in the NFL, when he enjoyed his spot on a Super Bowl-winning team but felt as if something was missing. That is when he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Prayer became a source of guidance for him from that point onward. “Ask your question, and we’ll have a journey,” he said. So he asked the questions that led him to start a business in Utah as well as run and win a very close race for Congress in 2020. He was then reelected in 2022 and 2024.
On what comes next for him, Owens said he feels as if it is his life’s mission to continue advocating for educational freedom.
“Whatever I do here in Utah will be around that,” he said. “I’m excited about what that might mean.”
On leaving a legacy
As Owens wraps up his final year in Congress, he said he has been thinking about what true legacy means.
The Utah congressman remembered former U.S. Rep. Mia Love, who died in March 2025 after battling brain cancer, and credited her with breaking the glass ceiling by serving as the first Black person elected to Congress from Utah and the first Republican Black woman ever elected to Congress.
She showed Utah and the rest of the country that talent has nothing to do with the color of your skin while paving the way for others like her, said Owens.
“That was … a doorway to not only myself but people across the country, as we saw Mia do what she did on the congressional floor,” the Utah congressman said.
Owens hasn’t fully revealed his plans for the future, but the word “retirement” doesn’t sit right with him. He said he hopes to continue advocating for educational opportunity.
For now, he is celebrating the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill” and what that means for education policy.
The Trump proposed budget includes a sweeping nationwide school choice program, marking the first time the federal government would allow parents to receive a $1,700 tax credit should they opt to send their children to private school.
“People … years from now will take for granted they can send their kids to the very best educational programs and never even know who in the world was part of that bill,” Owens said. “That’s a true legacy.”