Thomas Bowman (Iowa politician)

Thomas Bowman (May 25, 1848 – December 1, 1917) was a local official, newspaper publisher, and one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 9th congressional district. Benefiting from an electoral backlash in 1890 against Republicans for their support of the McKinley Tariff, Bowman's election was a rare nineteenth century Democratic win in traditionally Republican southwestern Iowa.

Born in Wiscasset, Maine, Bowman moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1868. A bachelor,^[1] he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1875, 1877 and 1879 he was elected treasurer of Pottawattamie County. He served as mayor of Council Bluffs in 1882.

In 1883, he purchased a controlling ownership of the Council Bluffs Globe newspaper. Under his ownership, the Globe identified itself as a Democratic newspaper. While publishing and editing the Globe, he was appointed postmaster of Council Bluffs in 1885, serving until his resignation in 1889.

In 1890 two Democrats other than Bowman ran for their party's nomination for the U.S. House seat then held by Republican Joseph Rea Reed.^[2] However, at the 9th district's convention, Bowman was drafted and nominated instead.^[3] After defeating Reed in the general election as part the Democratic Party's first nationwide congressional landslide against the Republican Party (and first majority in Iowa's House delegation), Bowman served in the Fifty-second Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1892, explaining that "my private business demands my undivided attention and I can only continue in public office at a great personal sacrifice."^[4] In all, he served in Congress from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1893.

After returning to Council Bluffs and the Globe, he was again the postmaster of Council Bluffs from 1904 to 1908. He also engaged in railroad contracting.

Bowman died in Council Bluffs, on December 1, 1917. He was interred in Pine Grove Cemetery in Dresden Mills, Maine.

References

• United States Congress. "Thomas Bowman (id: B000706)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.