Burgess Owens Out!

Tim Scott will soon be the sole member of the Black congressional Republicans. All four House members, John James, Burgess Owens, Wesley Hunt and Byron Donalds will not return in 2027.

All four Republican Black House members are not running for their seats.

By the way, they won in majority white districts to just to let you know. They wouldn't stand a chance in a swing or Democratic leaning district.

Reps. John James (R-MI), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Wesley Hunt (R-TX) and now Burgess Owens (R-UT) are clocking out. They getting off the Coon Train.

Wesley Hunt lost his bid for the U.S. senate after coming in third place against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Attorney General Ken Paxton. They face off in a run off.

John James who lost twice in the U.S. senate bids will give up his House seat for the Michigan governor race. He is likely an underdog.

Byron Donalds is endorsed by President Donald J. Trump in his bid for governor of Florida. He is facing James Fishback who is running on America Only and a white nationalist platform. Both candidates are flawed. So many establishment Republicans are hoping for the state's first lady Casey DeSantis to declare her run.

The Republicans are about to be 97% white again. 

Let's talk about it.

Owens ran because he was upset over Colin Kaepernick and the George Floyd protests. He got the backing of Trump. The Black House Republicans will not run for reelection.

Owens, 74 who won the seat in 2021 decided that its 4th Down and he is about to kick the ball to the other team. Ben McAdams, the former congressman who lost to him in 2020 is running for the seat.

Owens is a former safety who played Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders (now Las Vegas) and the New York Jets.

He played safety for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders, winning a championship with the Raiders in Super Bowl XV in 1980. Since leaving the NFL, Owens has founded several businesses and is the CEO of a nonprofit dedicated to helping troubled and incarcerated youth. 

A member of the Republican Party, Owens was first elected to Congress in 2020, when he narrowly defeated McAdams. Owens is one of four black Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Great, a Zionist getting replaced with another Zionist.

A Utah judge in November 2025 rejected the Republican-led legislature’s congressional map, selecting a new map (Map 1) that creates a more competitive district in Salt Lake County. Following a 2024 Utah Supreme Court ruling against the legislature, the new map, which aides Democratic representation, will be used for the 2026 midterm elections after federal courts declined to block it. 

Owens who represents Salt Lake City knew it would not favor him. Besides, he is likely experiencing onset dementia.

He announced his departure from the House in early March. 

Why did I not catch that?

Clarence "Burgess" Owens, said in early March he will not seek reelection after the redistricting shakeup left the state’s four Republican representatives to vie for three U.S. House seats this fall.

Democrats have a high likelihood of flipping one of Utah’s four seats under a new congressional map adopted by a state judge last year. Owens and other Republican officials sued to block that map, but their bids were rejected by state and federal judges who said it was too late to change the boundaries for 2026.

Owens, 74, said he will finish out his current term and then step away from elected office. His pending retirement clears the way for Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy to run in the three Republican-leaning districts without having to battle another incumbent.

“I will finish this term fully committed and fully accountable,” Owens said. “My final political sprint will be here in Utah and across the country, helping my colleagues expand our Republican majority.”

Meanwhile, in the new Salt Lake County district, a crowded field of Democrats includes former Rep. Ben McAdams, a moderate who Owens narrowly defeated when he was first elected to Congress in 2020. State Democrats could run their most progressive candidate to date, and many local officials to McAdams’ political left have thrown their hats in the ring.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas Herschel Walker and Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT).

Owens, a former NFL safety, played for the New York Jets and won a Superbowl with the Raiders in 1980 before jumping into politics. Now in his third term in Congress, he is a strong supporter of Donald Trump and has called the Republican president “an advocate for Black Americans.”

With Owens’ announcement, all four Black Republicans in the U.S. House have now said they are leaving Congress.

The other three — Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, John James of Michigan and Wesley Hunt of Texas — are seeking other offices. Owens said he will work to advance opportunity, advocate for children and strengthen families from outside of elected office.

They are among 53 current representatives — 21 Democrats and 32 Republicans — who have announced they will retire from the House after this year.

With primaries just getting underway in the first few states, it remains to be seen whether there will be any Black members of the House Republican conference next year.

The last time Congress did not include a single Black Republican in the House was between 2013 and 2015.

Donalds was the first to share his plans for this year, announcing in February of 2025 that he would run to succeed term-limited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. James followed in April when he said he would run in Michigan’s open governor’s race, and Hunt made official his challenge to Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn in October.

Hunt lost the primary Tuesday, and Cornyn will face Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a May runoff.