Thomas C. Sawyer
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Thomas Charles Sawyer (born August 15, 1945), also known as Tom Sawyer, is an American politician of the Democratic party who formerly served as a U.S. representative from Ohio.
Sawyer was born in Akron, Ohio. A graduate of Buchtel High School in Akron, Sawyer received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Akron in 1968 and a master of arts degree from the same university in 1970.
Sawyer worked as a teacher and then was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. He served as an Ohio state representative from 1977 to 1983. Then Sawyer was elected Mayor of Akron, a position he served in from 1984 to 1986.
In 1986, Sawyer was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He began serving in 1987 (100th Congress). He was re-elected in 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000.
The redistricting following the 2000 census resulting in moving Sawyer from Ohio's 14th congressional district to the 17th district, putting him in the same district as criminal convict U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr..
Traficant renounced the Democratic party and ran for re-election as an independent. However, Traficant's former protege Timothy J. Ryan was also running to fill the seat. The new 17th district was much more heavily pro-labor than Sawyer's old district and Sawyer was seen as being insufficiently pro-labor as a result of decisions such as votes for free trade. In a surprise upset, Sawyer lost the 2002 Democratic primary to Ryan, who went on to win the seat in the general election.
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