The dude running for Congress: An interview with Tommy Sowers, Democratic candidate for Missouri’s 8th district

Tommy Sowers is a man’s man, a 34-year-old unmarried dude who served in Iraq and Kosovo and whose frat brother from Duke is running his congressional campaign.

Challenging a seven-term incumbent in southeast Missouri, the former Green Beret just completed a 28-day “boots on the ground” tour of every county in his rural district, mostly shunning hotels and crashing at voters’ houses instead. He worked a different job every day, from frying chicken to working in a dairy to tending bar to helping out at company that manufactures ball caps.

The ever-energetic military man — who also has taught politics to West Point cadets — said during an interview at a Washington, D.C., coffee shop that the four-week exploration of his home turf was “exhilarating.”

Sowers says he “didn’t get into this business to be like every other politician,” and that certainly rings true — considering that he’s running as a Democrat in a district that voted 63 percent for John McCain for president in 2008 and is the hometown of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.

But Sowers is not being written off. Democrats are enthused that a serious candidate with serious financial backing has emerged to take on Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, the Republican officeholder who took over the seat from her congressman husband in 1996 when he died of cancer. His campaign manager Jonathan Feifs, and fellow Kappa Alpha Order brother, said they’ve raised money from all 50 states, as Sowers’s national profile has been enhanced with the endorsements of former Sen. Bob Kerrey and Gen. Wesley Clark.

The Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee in January listed Sowers as one of 26 “races to watch” in 2010. Long-time Democrat Paul Begala wrote “this reddest of districts has a realistic chance of turning blue, and the reason is former Green Beret Tommy Sowers.”

During the age of Tea Parties, where the resentment of doing business as usual in Washington is high, Sowers appears to be running more on the anti-incumbent party ticket than the Democratic ticket. “I go up to a guy sitting in a coffee shop, and I introduce myself, ‘I’m Tommy Sowers and I’m a veteran running for Congress. And the guy looks up at me and says, ‘Are you running for re-election?’ And I said ‘No, I’m the challenger.’ He said, ‘That’s good, you got my vote. This year if you’re in, you’re out.’”

Visitors to his Web site are hard-pressed to find any mention of his Democratic affiliation. Sowers — who says he supports health-care reform but is waiting more details before making a final decision on the president’s bill — did not tout the party of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi when asked about his party label, instead simply responding: “To me, I’m many things.”

“I’m a native [of the district], I’m a soldier, I’m an educator, and I feel very passionately about specific issues and that’s what I want people to find out first. And I was raised in a family that voted for the person instead of the party, and I think most people in southeast Missouri feel the same way,” he said.

“I think people are sick of the sort of Washington game where one party wins and another party loses and the people — the working people — lose in that process,” Sowers added.

He said voters in his district — who voted for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and who have a Democratic governor — “go back and forth” and elect officials from both parties. He said 57% of the county officials in the district are Democrats.

“This is a district that really cares passionately about kicking the tires, getting a sense of who the person is and voting their conscience instead of just simply party,” he said. “What I can tell you is this: The people I spoke with in the 8th Congressional District are ready for new blood in D.C. And it’s party neutral. They’ve seen Republican and Democrats … sort of leave rural America behind.”