Locally, I stand with many Roanoke citizens who believe that our current super-majority Democratic City Council has a mind of their own, has their own ideological strategy and is most interested in “identity politics.” My focus, and that of the many Democrats and Republicans with whom I had the honor to serve as Mayor for 16 years, was, and still is: “Good Jobs, Good Schools, Good Neighborhoods.” My focus is different from theirs. He’s very personable and has shared with us his vision, which is progressive and expansionist for Virginia, as we must do better competing in education and economic development with NC, SC, TN, GA and FL. On the state level, I’ve become very impressed with Governor Glenn Youngkin as our Commonwealth’s leader. And, by the way, I would not vote for an 82-year-old for President. Also, I can’t understand how he can continue to neglect the migrant and border crisis our country now faces. He should have brought us together, not divided us more. However, I am very disappointed that, instead of healing our nation, President Biden moved left toward the liberal Democrats and created a greater rift among our people. On the national level, I’ve met Joe Biden many times and he’s one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Kennedy, one of my heroes, in his 1961 Inaugural Address: “Ask not what your country can do for you…Ask what you can do for your country!” Today’s Democratic Party is all about: What can the government do for me! Today’s Democratic Party is not the party which embodied those historic and inspiring words of President John F. Please be assured that I have made, in my own opinion, and that of my wife, a thoughtful and conscientious decision.
Together we have done a lot of good for our city, but I believe, as a citizen, that switching now is the right thing to do. To all who have supported me, you really do have my sincere and heartfelt thanks. It may be considered “inconsiderate” by some longtime supporters and Democrats who have stood by me in the past. On this Patriot Day, September 11, 2023, after months of reflection, consultation with my wife, Margarita, family, friends and supporters, and much prayer, I have decided that my conscience compels me to join the Republican Party.
#Sol divide switch full
You can read Bowers’s full announcement statement below.
“For the time being, I just tell people, don’t count me in…but don’t count me out,” Bowers said. When asked about the potential running for another mayorship or city council seat, Bowers says he’s focused on the present. “When I was the mayor, I always tried to figure what we could do for the Republicans, what we could for the moderates, what could we do for the Democrats, what we could do for the different quadrants of our city,” Bowers said. No matter naughty or nice, you get something under the Christmas Tree. The super-majority Democrats on City Council, as I’ve stated above, are interested in promoting their liberal ideology,” Bowers said in a statement.īowers likes to refer to the Christmas Tree ideology. “Like many Roanokers, I’m dismayed at the current divide between our citizens. “Democrats are more interested in what can the government do for me,” Bowers said.īowers criticizes politics at all levels. In 2022, he ran as an independent for one of the three at-large council seats, and finished seventh, behind three winning Democrats and then three Republican candidates.īowers says a lot of the ideals and policies Democrats used to fight for are no longer the same. In 2020, Bowers ran again for mayor, this time as an independent against incumbent Sherman Lea, a Democrat, and polled 46.7%. He returned to the mayorship in 2008 and served two more terms until retiring in 2016. Bowers has always traced his interest in politics to when he was in high school in the 1960s and met then-Mayor Benton Dillard.īowers was elected to two terms on the city council, in 1984 and in 1988, and then was elected mayor in 1992.
0 kommentar(er)
