Stewart for State Senate

Article from The Southern Standard, September 7, 2008 written by Charles W. Johnson, News Editor

Eric Stewart, Democratic nominee for the 14th District State Senate seat, says he believes it’s all about values – like the family values his own family instilled in him as he was growing up.  “They’re not only my
biggest supporters,” Stewart said, “they’re also my mentors, my heroes and my friends. I was lucky enough to be brought up in a Christian home. A home where we were taught things like hard work, determination, commitment, dignity, compassion, and we were also taught the word Democrat, by the way. Those values are the reason I’m standing here today.”

Stewart, a Franklin County native, was on hand with incumbent 4th District Congressman Lincoln Davis
and state Sen. Steve Roller, among others, as they gathered with an enthusiastic group of Warren County
Democratic party members at the United Steelworkers Local 1155 Union Hall Thursday night for a unity rally in preparation for the November election.

Stewart thanked the assembled crowd for nominating him to run for the state Senate, then spoke about the
influence of the legislators who came before him who taught him the importance of serving all the people in the 14th District.  “Tonight I’d like to say thank you to folks like Sen. Earnest Crouch, Sen. Jerry Cooper, and, of course, Sen. Steve Roller,” Stewart said.  “The reason I named these three guys is because they knew, as I do, the 14th District seat is much bigger than any one person. It’s much broader than city limits and county
lines. They knew this district as a whole is much stronger, much greater and much more important than just the sum of its parts.”
Stewart went on to say he believes he has the kind of experience, gained as a successful businessman, needed to serve the district well.  “I think my experience has better prepared me to represent hard-working families in this district,” Stewart said, recalling how he started work in his father ’s central heat and air company when he was just a 12-year-old, then making an analogy between public service and running a business.  “It was hard, nasty work,” Stewart said, “but it taught me a lot of lessons. It taught me lessons about how to do a job and how to do it right. It taught me the value of customer service and how you
treat people. That’s what government is folks, it’s customer service. It’s providing the services to the people that they need and want so we can make their lives better. That’s what we do in government.”  Stewart says he understands the plight of the common man, and will base his platform on serving them.  “I know how to get up in the morning and put on my clothes and go to work for my family, to make a living for them and help raise my kids,” Stewart said. “That’s what people in the 14th District do.  That’s what we do – everyone

in this room. Those are the folks I want to represent. I don’t care what county you’re from, I don’t care what color you are, I don’t care what party you’re in. I’m asking for your vote and your support to elect me to be he next state senator from the 14th District.”