Tommy Sowers met with a group of citizens from New Madrid and the surrounding area this past Monday night at Rosie’s in New Madrid. He introduced himself as having been raised in Rolla, Missouri, where his grandfather started the local newspaper in 1942. As a 4th generation Missourian, this is where his values, faith, family and hard work first began.

Describing himself as a fiscal conservative, he is a student of the constitution. Educated at Duke University on a ROTC scholarship where studied government, he is currently completing his Ph.D. in government at London School of Economics. He told the crowd that as a student and teacher of the constitution at West point he noticed the disconnect between what we have now and what our founders intended. He noted that one concern the founders worried about was career politicians. They did not want nobility passing the seat down from father to son or husband to wife. Sowers noted that today we have the longest serving and oldest Congress

in the history of the Republic.

He noted that many see this as a problem and that it was not a popular time to be an incumbent when so many are calling for new blood. 

Sowers has an impressive resume as a soldier. Having spent 11 years active duty, and obtaining rank of Major he feels his military background and leadership would be a plus in the current congress where so few congressmen have a military background.

He served in Special Forces as a Ranger and Green Beret and led an Operational Detachment- Alpha (A-Team) of 12 Green Berets. According to Sowers, what drew him into the Green Berets was the fact that these were the ones being sent on the tough missions where you have to figure out how to make things happen. He stated that the same thing drew him into politics. He noted that he knew this would be a tough campaign, but that you can’t sit and wait till things are easy when something needs to be done.

In two deployments to Iraq in 2004-2006, he conducted a wide range of counterinsurgency operations. His last military assignment was at West Point where he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences from 2006-2009. He taught courses in American Politics and Mass Media and Politics. He also taught introduction to American Government at Missouri University in Rolla.

Sowers indicated that he has a vision for Missouri’s 8th District. He stated that while our district includes 28 counties and is about the size of Switzerland, it is the 10th poorest of the 435 Congressional Districts. It now ranks low in income and just gets by even in good times. He wants to fight for his District in Washington as the district’s Ambassador and change these percentages. His vision is for a growing and better economy for his constituents. If elected, he stated that all citizens will get, not only an Ambassador for the District, but a fighter.

 

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