Utah Republican Burgess Owens announces retirement from Congress after redistricting shakeup

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, the professional football player turned Utah congressman, said Wednesday he will not seek reelection after a 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.

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.

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Associated Press reporter Maya Sweedler in Washington contributed to this report.