The new congressman from the 29th District is Tom Reed, the Republican former mayor of Corning who won the seat in 2010. Reed was born in Joliet, Ill., the youngest of 12 children. His father was an Army veteran and Silver Star recipient who fought in World War II and Korea. When Reed was just 2 years old, his father accidentally died of carbon monoxide poisoning while working on his car. Soon after his father’s death, Reed’s family moved to Corning, N.Y., where his mother had grown up. She stayed at home to take care of her children, relying on her late husband’s military death benefits and Social Security checks for financial support. “We struggled but we never went without, so to speak. We were happy,” Reed said in an interview with National Journal. As the youngest, Reed said he became used to being the last one to get a bath and to being the one who had to sit on the floor of the family car or the armrest because there weren’t enough seats to go around. Read More

The new congressman from the 29th District is Tom Reed, the Republican former mayor of Corning who won the seat in 2010. Reed was born in Joliet, Ill., the youngest of 12 children. His father was an Army veteran and Silver Star recipient who fought in World War II and Korea. When Reed was just 2 years old, his father accidentally died of carbon monoxide poisoning while working on his car. Soon after his father’s death, Reed’s family moved to Corning, N.Y., where his mother had grown up. She stayed at home to take care of her children, relying on her late husband’s military death benefits and Social Security checks for financial support. “We struggled but we never went without, so to speak. We were happy,” Reed said in an interview with National Journal. As the youngest, Reed said he became used to being the last one to get a bath and to being the one who had to sit on the floor of the family car or the armrest because there weren’t enough seats to go around.

In high school, Reed swam competitively and received offers to compete in Division I college athletics programs. He opted to stay close to home, however, attending Alfred University in western New York. He majored in political science with minors in history and literature, and he was captain of the swim team, placing eighth in the Division III College National Championships. When he was a freshman, Reed met his future wife, Jean, who was a senior at the time. They married in 1996. After graduation, Reed considered staying at Alfred as an assistant swim coach, but decided at the last minute to apply to law school at Ohio Northern University College of Law. Reed graduated in 1996 and worked at a law firm in Rochester, N.Y. When his mother died in 1998, he packed up his family to move back to Corning, to the house where he had grown up. In 1999, he founded his own law firm. Reed ran successfully in 2007 for mayor of Corning.

In July 2009, Reed announced that he would run for Congress against Rep. Eric Massa, believing that the Democrat was vulnerable in the conservative-leaning district. Massa, though, had a reputation as a fierce campaigner, and many analysts felt that he had a good chance to hang onto the seat. However, the race was turned on its head in March 2010, when Massa abruptly resigned the seat amid allegations from male staff members that he had inappropriately tickled them during social events. Democratic Gov. David Paterson scheduled a special election to coincide with the general election in November 2010. Potential top-tier candidates such as former Rep. Randy Kuhl, who had been ousted by Massa in 2008, opted not to run, leaving Reed unchallenged for the Republican nomination.

The Democrats chose as their nominee Matthew Zeller, an Afghanistan combat veteran. Zeller argued that he would do a better job of protecting Social Security and creating jobs than would Reed, who focused his message on reducing the deficit and shrinking government. By late in the race, Zeller had raised $346,000, compared with Reed’s $941,000. Reed had one slipup in the race. He suggested on Twitter that the district was being shortchanged by the House’s failure to vote on the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. The Senate votes on judicial confirmations, not the House. But capitalizing on voter angst over excessive spending, Reed won handily, 57% to 43%.

Because there were a few weeks remaining of Massa’s term, Reed was sworn in in November for the remainder of the 111th Congress (2009-10) and so took part in the lame-duck session of Congress at the end of 2010. In mid-November 2010, Reed was hospitalized for blood clots in both lungs. In June 2011, Reed got a prized seat on the Ways and Means Committee, which is rare for a freshman House member.