PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — The last time Patrick Sowers ran for office was for class president in 1991, at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge.
Patrick Sowers just threw his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination for the Prince William Board of County Supervisors in the open seat that Coles District Supervisor Marty E. Nohe will be vacating next year for his run for At-large Board of Supervisors Chairman.
Democrat LaTonsha “LT” Pridgen has already announced her campaign for the Coles District seat.
Sowers is a third-generation Northern Virginia resident whose family moved to Prince William County in 1976. He has spent the majority of his life in Prince William County where he currently lives with his wife of almost 25 years and their 8-year-old daughter. A Realtor, Sowers owns Loyalty Exteriors on Hornbaker Road near Manassas.
Sowers has filed all his paperwork with the county’s Office of Elections but has yet to make an official announcement of his campaign, which he expects to do in the coming weeks.
“I have been in public service my entire life,” Sowers said.
He taught safe boating classes as a teenager, coached youth football in Prince William and Fairfax counties for over 10 years, currently serves on the Coles District Community Services Board and the Virginia Community Services Board, and volunteers as a project manager for Care Net’s new office in Woodbridge, among other things.
“I don’t have a lot of hobbies outside of what I do for my community.”
Sowers’ love for community service fueled his desire to serve as a Supervisor.
“I actually approached several other people that I thought might run and they don’t have interest,” Sowers explained.
Before getting into Real Estate and exteriors, Sowers worked in IT on Capitol Hill for 14 years.
“I’m a pro-life conservative,” Sowers said. “I don’t think I’m perfect,” he said, but his faith as a born-again Christian fuels him.
He said seeing his 17-week old stillborn baby solidified his pro-life conviction.
He is also a fiscal conservative.
“Rising taxes in Prince William County are concerning to I think every resident that pays taxes in the county,” Sowers said. “My goal will be to look for every alternative possible to a tax increase.”
Filling Supervisor Marty Nohe’s shoes may prove challenging, but Sowers is up to the task. Nohe has been on the Board since 2003 and is currently seeking election as Chairman of the Board in 2019.
Sowers said he has been friends with and has a working relationship with Nohe.
“Marty and I are alike in a lot of ways, but we are also different in quite a few ways,” Sowers said. “A lot of people don’t feel Marty is conservative enough and I’m hoping that they’ll find that I foot that bill for them and their changes.”
“With very few exceptions, there is no issue that Marty and I have disagreed upon in the last twelve years,” Sowers adds.
The nomination process for Republicans has yet to be announced.
Prince William County Republican Committee Chairman Bill Card said in an e-mail that he hopes to hold a county-wide caucus or firehouse primary like Prince William County did in 2015, but it must be approved by the local committee. If a county-wide caucus occurs, Card estimates it will take place sometime in early spring 2019.
No other Republicans have announced their candidacy so far. Prince William County School Board Coles District representative Willie Deutsch and Paul O’Meara, who lost to Nohe in 2015, are also rumored to be considering running for the office.
