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After vowing to represent all of the 23rd Congressional District, candidate John Plumb won the unanimous endorsement of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee at a standing-room-only meeting in Ithaca Town Hall last week.

Plumb was referring to a recent ad funded by Tom Reed, his opponent in the Congressional race, which tied Plumb to "extreme Ithaca liberals," Reed's moniker for 2014 candidate Martha Robertson. Plumb, who is a fourth-generation Western New Yorker from a military family, pointed to the Reed campaign's writing off of a whole segment of the Congressional District as one good reason to support Plumb instead.

The evening began with a meet-and-greet and remarks from the candidate. Plumb was born in Jamestown and raised in Randolph, NY. He competed for and won a ROTC scholarship, which paid his way through the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated with a degree in physics. He earned his Master's in Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Plumb served six years on active duty as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy and remains in the Navy Reserves, serving with the rank of Commander. After earning a PhD in Aerospace Engineering, he worked in Washington as a Senate advisor before moving to the Pentagon and then the National Security Council staff at the White House.

Plumb received the biggest applause of the night when he mentioned as an aside that current Republican presidential candidates who are touting waterboarding and other forms of torture "are putting my friends' lives at risk overseas." He responded to several questions from the committee before receiving the unanimous endorsement.

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