Mark Alford, who won his seat representing Missouri’s 4th District in Congress during the 2022 midterms, was recently interviewed on C-SPAN. Watch the interview below.
The cable channel has interviewed half of the nearly 80 new members of the U.S. House of Representatives. In his interview, Alford, a Republican, talked about his life growing up, his early career, faith, his philosophy of governance and hopes for the future. After a career in journalism, “I know now this was God’s calling for my life,” he said.
The former news anchor, who was a familiar and popular face in Kansas City, also referred to himself as a “recovering” reporter saying he saw first-hand how journalism became partisan during his career. “We need some kind of reform in journalism,” he ventured. “We need to get back to just telling stories, not being an advocate but just telling the truth.” He also said as an anchor, and a lifelong conservative, he was always “trying to bring balance, context and perspective to the news product.”
The freshman legislator became emotional as he discussed where his values and conservative roots came from. Alford said he got those roots from his father who had a pocket copy of the constitution with notes written on it. “I had it on the floor the morning that we were finally sworn in…I held it in my one hand over my heart.”
Alford went on to explain to the C-SPAN reporter that the Constitution is the basic foundation of the nation. “We need not stray from that to have liberty, freedom and security.”
Asked which notes his dad made that stand out, he said “accountability” is written at the top. It was at this moment, talking about his father and his new responsibility, that he became visibly emotional. “If there’s one thing I want to be is accountable to our voters and to live up to the honor they have placed on me.”
The honor is not placed in him but in the seat and he is only a temporary steward of the seat. “There will be someone after me but in the meantime, I’m gonna be the best that I can to be the loudest, strongest, most consistent, unwavering voice I can be…for the constituents of the 4th District.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice