Sowers meets local residents

8th Congressional Candidate for Congress, Tommy Sowers, right, introduces himself to area residents, from left, Shawn Droke and Joe Droke, of Senath.

Staff photo by Lecia Forester

"I'm a veteran running for Congress. I'm running to fight for our home. I'm running to get some new blood up there in D.C.," Sowers explained to local residents.

After an introduction by Ron Forbus, a former marine and Gulf War veteran, Sowers talked a little about himself, his background and why he felt it was important to run.

He told the audience about his day in the Bootheel. It began in Senath with him talking with folks there and working his way to Kennett. He spent his day working with the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA), making house calls and seeing how rural health care works in Kennett. He said that when you sit down with people for awhile, they tend to open up and start talking.

"In Senath and Kennett, I heard the same thing and it was 'I don't know if I want my kids to come back here.' That is devastating to me... That is devastating. If we can't get our kids to come back here to take over some of the best jobs in this area, then we are in trouble."

He went on to talk about how it is vitally important to create a rural America that is vibrant once again.

Sowers was born and raised in Rolla where his granddad began the local newspaper in 1942. His dad also started some businesses when Tommy was growing up. Some succeeded, some failed. He attributes this to how he feels about hard work, faith and family.

Educated in the public school district, he went on to attend Duke University on an ROTC scholarship. Following four years as a combat engineer, Sowers was chosen for a prestigious award that offered him an opportunity to study at the London School of Economics. There he earned a Masters of Science degree in Public Policy with a mark of "Distinction," awarded to the top three graduates.

Sowers spent 11 years active duty and obtained the grade of Major as a soldier. During the Balkan war, he was deployed to Kosovo to lead a platoon of Combat Engineers in multinational operations. He attended the Special Forces Qualification Course, graduating first in his class. At 10th Special Forces Group, he led an Operational Detachment-Alpha (A-Team) of 12 Green Berets. In two deployments to Iraq in 2004-2006, he conducted a wide range of counterinsurgency operations and was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge and two Bronze Stars. He is Ranger, HALO and Jumpmaster qualified.

In addition to his military background, Sowers has served as an Assistant Professor at West Point's Department of Social Sciences. There he taught students American Politics, and Mass Media and Politics. Sowers was nominated for the APGAR Award for Excellence in Teaching and has also taught Introduction to American Government at the Missouri University of Science & Technology center in Rolla.

He currently resides in Rolla, living just two doors down from his parents. The Sowers family has lived in Missouri for four generations.

In terms of how he plans to address the issues Missourians are concerned most about, Sowers said, "I believe that leadership starts with the willingness to listen, it's a lesson that was proven to me time and again during my time in the Army. People are our greatest asset -- but we must be willing to listen as we make decisions about the way forward. The basic guiding principles of duty, accountability, and responsibility will inform each decision and stance I make."

According to Sowers, he will be "a fighter for Missouri and will fight for our future." His campaign has been based on one simple principle: Boots on the Ground. He has been traveling the roads of the 28 counties that comprise the Eighth Congressional District of Southeast Missouri. The district is the 10th poorest of all the 435 districts. Over one fourth of the children live in households under the federal poverty line. It also ranks last in the United States for female median income. In some counties, 45 percent of the residents are on food stamps.

Responsibility and accountability are words quite frequently used by the politician who notes on his Web site that " Members of the U.S. Congress have a sacred and primary responsibility to our constitution, and to serve the people who send them to Washington, D.C. Fundamental to our Constitution is the idea that each one of us has an equal voice in Congress. I believe that too many in Washington have forgotten for whom they work."

"I will hold myself accountable to the people I serve in the district," he adds.

Sowers explains that when a business is thinking about relocating to the area and they're trying to decide whether to come to Kennett or go across the river, he'll be in that meeting and he will get that business to come here.

He went on to say, "This is our year. Nothing is more important than our home."

After visiting with the audience for awhile, he then turned the floor over to the citizens for a question and answer session. A few of the questions touched on and pertained to both local and international issues.

One of the first questions asked was about the Dairy Farm that is supposed to relocate to Malden. Sowers replied that local assets in the area should be looked at and the local and state leaders should work together to make that happen.

The subject of illegal immigration was also discussed and Sowers said that he is in favor of border security and work place enforcement.

Another question asked was whether he thought he could be a statesman. He said, "Look at my record. A definition of a statesman to me is somebody who is disciplined, someone who thinks of others before he thinks of himself and someone that listens." He then went on to say that others should see this in his campaign, and encouraged people to become involved.

He also said, "I'm not going to Washington to make easy decisions. I'm going up there to make the hard ones."

According to Sowers, one of the reasons he got into politics was to fight for our home. His experiences in Iraq influenced his decision to run. He said that's when the first seed was planted. While there, he saw members of Congress coming over there and not really asking the tough questions or checking and overseeing what was going on. That led him to think that "we could do better than that."

Sowers thinks that in order to bring industry to Southeast Missouri, you need an ambassador in this area, a representative in the House, someone who has family here and who knows the values of small communities.

When asked if he has aspirations of something beyond the congressional race, such as the senate, he replied that he would like to go back into teaching.

Sowers has also said, "I have always fought for what I believe in. I believe in the future of Southeast Missouri and it is my duty to fight for it."

* Some of the biographical information used in this article can be attributed to the following sources, www.sowersforcongress.com/issues and www.dddnews.com/1569282.html