Utah County Commission Seat A: Brent Bowles vs. Michelle Kaufusi
A look at the Republican candidates for Utah County Commissioner for the June 2026 primary elections.
About this position
The Utah County Commission is a 3-member body who represent all of Utah County—with over 700,000 residents. The County Commission makes legislative and executive decisions for Utah County as a whole, and works with local and state leaders. See Utah’s forms of county government.
County commissioners control zoning and development for unincorporated land in the county, oversee the Sheriff’s Department, manage natural resources and infrastructure on county land, and create legislation for the county. Their budget comes from county property taxes.
Learn more about the Utah County Commission and see Utah’s forms of county government.
Candidates
Top priorities come from candidates’ official websites. We view this guide as merely a starting point, please research more and reach out to the candidates directly to learn more about their issues and experience.
Find the values and attributes we’re looking for in candidates.
Brent Bowles
About: Mr. Bowles has lived in Utah for more than 30 years. He’s worked as a firefighter for 23 years and currently works as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. He has a Master’s Degree in nurse anesthesia. Mr. Bowles has served for 9 years as the president of his local Homeowners’ Association.
Top priorities (from website): Government efficiency and county commission reform, taxes and fiscal responsibility, public safety, illegal immigration
Insights: We met with Mr. Bowles and were concerned by his lack of experience. He seemed to be confused over the powers and duties of commissioners, which include both executive and legislative duties.
During his run for convention, Mr. Bowles expressed interest in using the commission to manage the school boards, and in keeping children who do not speak English out of public school, neither of which are powers granted to the commission. He may have promising ideas about expanding the commission size and reducing commissioners’ pay, yet we continue to worry about a fundamental misunderstanding and lack of experience for such a powerful role.
Michelle Kaufusi
About: Kaufusi is a lifelong Utahn, raised in Provo. She served on the Provo school board and has served 2 terms as mayor of Provo, until her recent defeat in the mayoral race. She has also served on various state and federal boards. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from BYU.
Top priorities (from website): Small, efficient government; public safety; transportation; long-term planning
Insights: Looking at Ms. Kaufusi’s successes and failures as mayor of Provo can give us an idea of her strengths and weaknesses. She avoided debt in building the Provo Airport by starting small. She seems willing to accept differing perspectives, appointing people of different ideologies to boards and commissions to allow better deliberation. She supported the creation of an Environmental Sustainability Commission in Provo.
We note that she was not in favor of some public health measures taken during the Covid-19 pandemic. She also tends to take a fairly partisan stance on issues like law and immigration enforcement, which are relevant to the commission. While her views are not moderate, we appreciate that it seems like she’s been willing to work across the aisle on important issues.
Our recommendation
We recommend Michelle Kaufusi in the June 2026 Republican Primary for Utah County Commissioner. While we do not find Ms. Kaufusi particular moderate in her views, we appreciate her understanding of the commissioner role, experience in public office, and history of working with those with whom she may disagree.
Learn more about this race from local news coverage like Utah Politics and American Fork Citizen and by watching their debate.
What’s next?
The winner of the June Republican primary election will face Democratic candidate Jeanne Marie Bowen and Independent American candidate Jacob D. Oaks in the November general election.
Of note, 100% of Utah County’s current partisan elected officials are Republicans. (Municipal leaders and local school board members are nonpartisan races)