17-Year-Old running for Mayor of Elkhart, IN

ELKHART, Ind. – You may have heard about the 17-year-old running for Mayor of Elkhart. His name is Caleb Owens and he's currently a senior at Concord High School.

  • Caleb was persistent in making a change in the City. He ran based on decreasing youth gun violence and deaths. It all started when he lost a 16-year-old friend, Braxton Barhams, just two years before his run. Caleb knew the law stated he needed to be 18 to hold political office; he would be 18 by the General election if he won the primary.

  • Caleb faced a two-term incumbent mayor who was running for his third term. Caleb had no support from the Elkhart County Dems as they supported the sitting Mayor’s re-election. The Democratic Committee and skeptics assumed that Caleb would only receive a single-digit percentage from the primaries; Caleb won 34% of the Democratic primary votes. This signified that Elkhart wanted a change, which led to the sitting mayor losing his re-election to the Republican opponent.

  • Caleb continued to serve as an Election Precinct Chairman for Concord-19 in Elkhart County, working with local politicians such as former Senator Joe Donnelly and the Late Congresswoman Jackie Walorski. This showed that Caleb didn’t care if you were a Democrat or a Republican; he just wanted to help better his community.

Caleb Owens talks Gun Violence in Elkhart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBF9i7ZfWFY

Caleb relocated to Toccoa, Georgia, in November of 2018. After the passing of his mother in Indiana, Caleb returned to Georgia to begin building a Democratic Community in Stephens County in NE Georgia.

The Georgia Democrats

  • While living in Toccoa, GA, located in Stephens County, GA, Caleb searched for the county’s democratic party. When he didn’t find one, he called neighboring Democratic Parties and was put in Contact with the 9th Congressional District Democratic Party Chairwoman, Mrs. June Kris. Once working to gather Democrats across Stephens County, at their first meeting, June had appointed Caleb, the youngest and first Chairman of the county party since the late 90’s when the county party disbanded. From that August 22, 201,9 day moving forward, Caleb never ceased his work in the county or the state of Georgia.

  • In 2019, while serving as Chairman of the Stephens County Democrats, he was invited by Fair Fight Action to attend a Democracy Warrior Summit in Atlanta, GA. Fair Fight is a nonprofit organization focused on voting rights and fair elections. This organization was created by Former Gubertorial Candidate Stacey Abrams, whom Caleb later had the honor of working with and others to help push to ensure every voice and vote of Georgians would be heard. By getting the word out in Stephens County and ensuring that voters were registered, had reliable transportation to the polls, and that voting centers maintained the scheduled times to remain open for all voters to be able to cast their votes.

  • Caleb was able to volunteer on 3 separate campaigns during both of his stays in Georgia. Two in 2019 with Senatorial Candidate Sarah Riggs Amico and Public Service Commissioner Candidate for District 4 Daniel Blackman. At the end of 2019 Caleb had to relocate back to Indiana to be closer to family.

    In 2021, Caleb returned to Georgia and was stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA. While there, he also volunteered by phone calls and door knocking for the re-election of Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock.