Two candidates have quietly emerged to challenge U.S. Rep. Steve Womack in 2014 for the 3rd District congressional seat - a Tea Party Republican and a stand-up comic. Both are also schoolteachers.
Troy Gittings said Monday he would officially announce his candidacy as a Democrat in the congressional race later Monday night at a meeting at the Rogers Public Library.
And Thomas Brewer of Rogers said he’s running against Womack in the Republican primary election.
Gittings is an English teacher at Bentonville High School. He also has performed with comedy troupes called Fools on Parade and Comedians NWA.
Gittings said he’s an Army veteran who served 15 months in Iraq.
When asked why he’s running for Congress, Gittings said, “I think I could do a better job. This seat has been held by Republicans since 1967. I know where I am. I know which mountain stands in front of me.”
Gittings said he didn’t want Womack to go without a Democratic opponentin the heavily Republican 3rd District.
“It befuddles me that he could go uncontested,” Gittings said. “If not me, who? If not now, when? … I think I’ve got more of a chance being elected in this district than doing big-time comedy. It’s a tough row to hoe.”
Brewer said he’s the one to unseat Womack, and he plans to do it during the primary election in May, six months before the general election in November.
Brewer is a math teacher at Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy in Bentonville.
When asked to sum up his platform, Brewer said, “Restore the Constitution. Fiscal responsibility.”
Brewer said that would be the extent of his comments on Monday. Brewer referred other questions to his “strategist,” Greg Fournier of Daytona Beach, Fla.
“I like to say that Thomas Brewer is the candidate that you thought you elected in 2010,” Fournier said. “In our opinion and Thomas’ opinion, Steve Womack has fallen in with being one of the Beltway elitists. He’s not living up to his campaign promises from 2010 or 2012. Thomas jumped into this race primarily because of the fact that he’s had enough. He is a citizen candidate. He has never run for public office before.”
Fournier said Womack has moved from his rightist platform since going to Washington in 2011.
“He’s moved extremely to center,” Fournier said. “I thinkhe has turned his back on his constituency for the most part. … When he got up to Washington, he raised the debt limit at almost every vote.”
Womack didn’t respond to calls and text messages seeking comment.
Womack had a Democratic opponent in the 2012 Congressional race, but Ken Aden of Russellville withdrew from the race after articles in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette showed that he had misled voters about his military and academic records.
In 2010, Womack defeated Democratic challenger David Whitaker of Fayetteville in a landslide - by a vote of 148,581 to 56,542. In 2012, Whitaker was elected state representative serving District 85.
Womack was mayor of Rogers from 1999-2010.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/15/2013