Tom Sell thinks Lubbock, Abilene and the rest of District 19 are the “best of the American values.”
He’s running in the March Republican Primary for the seat Jodey Arrington is vacating at the end of this term.
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“I think what sets our district apart is – one – we are producers. But we’re also blue-sky optimists – pushing through, working hard, even in what can be adverse circumstances,” Sell said.
“I was born in Lubbock. My parents both grew up around the Petersburg community,” he said.
“My grandparents lived through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl days – and so just ingrained with this West Texas heritage and toughness and grit,” Sell said.
The family moved to Amarillo in 1982 when Sell was age 10.
“I graduated high school at Tascosa in Amarillo – the Running Rebels. … Came back to Texas Tech and studied agricultural economics; met my wife on the first day of class. Took me a while to win her over, but I got that done,” Sell said.
His wife’s mother came from Lockney and her dad from Lazbuddie – giving his family “deep roots all throughout this great 19th congressional district.”
In Sell’s senior year, he was able to intern with Congressman Larry Combest.
“At that time, Tech would have one intern in Washington, D.C., and I was fortunate. … That was in 1995 when Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America came into power – the first time that the Republicans had the majority in Congress in [40] years,” Sell said.
Combest had a talent for making things happen, according to Sell, and was chairman of the House Agriculture Committee overseeing major legislation like the Agricultural Risk Protection Act and 2002 Farm Bill.
“It was kind of a watershed farm bill that every farm bill since then has been built off of,” Sell said.
Combest retired before the end of his 10th term in 2003. That was a big change for Sell too.
“We wanted to raise our family in West Texas. I went to Texas Tech Law School. We got two more kids while I was in law school, also started our business, Combest Sell and Associates, while I was in law school – really helping advise people on policy matters and serve as an advocate,” Sell said.
“Combest, Sell & Associates was established in January of 2005, when Tom Sell was approached to re-engage Larry Combest, a former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, to bring their particular talents back to the field in Washington,” the company website said.
Sell said, “We loved and we saw the nobility of the work in helping people – really emboldening them to use their voice in the U.S. Congress.”
Sell and his wife raised their four kids in Lubbock, coached Little League, served on the Ranching Heritage Board, the Breedlove Board, and the Lubbock Water Commission.
“I’ve been engaged in farming and ranching largely with my father, George Sell, who’s 85. We run cattle and we do a little farming as well,” Sell said.
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Priorities if elected
Sell plans to stand strong for the farm and ranch community. He’s also committed to a strong military defense but the topic he talked about most with LubbockLights.com was federal spending, he said.
He pointed to a $38.7 trillion national debt, saying the federal government spends about $6.5 trillion but revenue is only $4.5 trillion.
“That’s not sustainable,” Sell said.
“I think we need some more statesmen who will build unity, who will actively seek to win people over to their point of view,” Sell said.
He insists it can be done.
“I was up there in the Newt Gingrich era, and from that election in 1994 and the seating of the 104th Congress in 1995. We had a balanced budget in 2000,” Sell said.
Sell signed a term limits pledge, he said. He’s friends with Arrington who will step down after 10 years.
“I would hope that the people of the 19th District could trust that in electing me, they’re electing a man of integrity and character who will represent the best values of the people,” Sell said.
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