Newton's Setti Warren latest Iraq veteran to seek office

Peace activists began holding weekly public vigils in Newton Centre after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and ensuing Iraq War. And shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, two residents sued the Newton school district, contending that the public schools had failed to place an American flag in every classroom as required under state law.

But regardless of voters' political beliefs, Warren's military experience is impressive, according to some observers.

"It means he felt he had a commitment and he fulfilled his commitment,'' said Malcolm Salter, chairman of the Citizen Advisory Group, an influential panel that has examined Newton's finances. "He was called and he did it .. and he did it cheerfully."

Salter, who did not endorse either Warren or his opponent, state Representative Ruth Balser, said he thinks Warren's military background will help in his new role. "First of all, he was an officer.To unpeel a situation when you're under some stress and danger I think that's good. It's another life experience for him. You know how to work in an environment where men and women of wisdom have tremendous differences of opinion."

Yesterday, in a Globe interview in his campaign headquarters less than 24 hours after polls closed, Warren talked about leaving his pregnant wife behind when he traveled to Iraq.

“It tests your mental capacity, your mental toughness,” Warren said, wearing jeans, sneakers, and a leather jacket with patches from his Navy service sown on. “It reminds you how fortunate I am to have been born and raised in Newton, to be able to come back home to a beautiful daughter, a beautiful wife, a beautiful family.”

Warren said he doesn’t see Newton residents as anti-veteran.

“I haven’t seen that at all,” Warren said. “People have been very supportive. They appreciate my service very much.”

One of the best known Iraqi veterans who succeeded in politics is US Representative Patrick J. Murphy, the first veteran of that war elected to Congress. Murphy, a military lawyer, volunteered to deploy after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and was sent to Baghdad in 2003-2004. He returned home to southeastern Pennsylvania, and was elected to Congress in 2006. Murphy, a former West Point professor, was re-elected last year.

And last year, Democrat and Iraqi war vet John Boccieri was elected to Congress from Ohio's 16th District. Boccieri had already spent eight years in the Ohio state legislature, where he was an advocate for veterans.

But many of the veterans were newcomers to politics, with little or no political experience. Last year, Nathan Bech, a Republican and Iraqi war veteran from West Springfield, unsuccessfully tried to unseat US Representative John Olver, Democrat of Amherst, from the First
Congressional District seat. Bech was endorsed by former governor Paul Cellucci. But Olver, the state's only representative on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, was elected to his ninth full term.

In a special election earlier this yaer, Anthony Woods, who received a master's degree from Harvard's Kennedy School in 2008, lost his bid to represent California's 10th District in Congress. Woods, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, was honorably discharged from the Army after he announced that he was gay.

In Maine last year, Alex Cornell du Houx, a young Iraqi war vet from Brunswick, had better luck. He was elected to the state legislature, two years after the Marine was deployed to Iraq, where he patrolled the streets in and around Fallujah.

Tammy Duckworth, an Army helicopter pilot in Iraq, ran for Congress in Illinois in 2006 and lost. She is now the Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I think right now, even if people disagree with the Iraq war, they still have favorable opinions of the people who served there," said Jon Soltz, co-founder and chairman of VoteVets.org, a political action committee created partly to elect veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to public office.

But since the veterans have been away so recently, running for office -- making their name known and raising money -- can be difficult, he said. "You don't have any of the local political ties when you're off fighting for your country," he said. "You're not involved in the local debates, the local politics."