Bill Dew was a home construction contractor and the Republican challenger in Utah's 2nd congressional district

Utah's 2nd congressional district

Utah's 2nd congressional district currently serves the largely rural southern and eastern portions of Utah, including Saint George and Moab in the south and Vernal in the east, as well as the east side of urban Salt Lake County, the northern portion of Utah County, and Wasatch County. The current...

 in 2008. Dew received the Republican nomination, but lost in the general election to Democratic incumbent Jim Matheson

Jim Matheson

James David "Jim" Matheson is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2001. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes eastern Salt Lake City....

. Dew got 35% of the vote.

Education and military service

After graduating from high school in 1970, Dew was a LDS missionary

Missionary (LDS Church)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...

 in Arizona for two years. He graduated from the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

 in 1978 with a degree in Finance

Finance

"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

.

After completing college and ROTC, Dew was commissioned a second lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 and served in the United States Army Reserve

United States Army Reserve

The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....

 for the next eight years. In 1986, he received an honorable discharge and left the army with the rank of first lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

.

Business

Dew's father was a school teacher who worked construction on the weekends. Growing up, Dew often worked alongside him. Years later, while serving in the Army Reserve, Dew started building homes in the Salt Lake Valley, and his homebuilding enterprise quickly became a successful development company called Dewbury Homes. In 2006, after 30 years in the construction industry Dew left his business and, with his wife Jolene, devoted two years to humanitarian work in Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

.

2008 Election

Dew announced his candidacy for Congress on March 10, 2008. His campaign advocated balanced federal budget, giving states and local communities control over public education, securing the borders and ending illegal immigration, making America energy independent, and winning the war in Iraq.

Dew secured the Republican nomination by winning 69% of the vote at the party's state convention on May 10, 2008. He defeated five other Republican contenders, including the early favorite, Merrill Cook

Merrill Cook

Merrill Cook was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Utah.Cook, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from East High School in 1964 and the University...

.

Dew pledged to spend $500,000 of his own money on his campaign. Because Dew's campaign raised less than $100,000 from other sources, he still was outspent heavily by Matheson.

In the general election on November 4, 2008, Dew received 113,432 votes, or 34.7%. Matheson won with 206,007 votes, or 63.1%. Dew, a political newcomer, received only 2% fewer votes than the previous 2006 Republican challenger LaVar Christensen

LaVar Christensen

LaVar Christensen is a American politician from Utah, serving as a state representative from the state's 48th district January 1, 2003 - December 31, 2006; January 1, 2011. Christensen was the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Utah's 2nd congressional district...

(a popular former state representative). This came despite polling in September at 27%; some attribute this jump to Dew's hard fought and comprehensive campaign even in the face of a strong showing by Democrats in the Obama presidential race.