21st Congressional District candidate Mike Derrick, D-Peru, speaks with the press and supporters Thursday at the Watertown campaign office. (Photo provided — Justin Sorensen, Watertown Daily Times)

WATERTOWN — Lowville resident Derek Davey, a Gold Star father whose son was killed in a gunfight in Iraq in 2005, supports Democratic congressional candidate Mike Derrick partly because of the retired Army colonel’s military experience.

Attending a press conference on Thursday, Davey touted Derrick’s military background, from a West Point cadet through his long career in combat and now as a veteran, as the reasons New York’s 21st Congressional District needs him.

Derrick is facing U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, who is running for re-election, and Green Party candidate Matthew Funiciello.

“I’m not going to going say anything negative about Elise Stefanik,” Davey said. “We need somebody with extreme experience and knowledge to make the correct decisions.”

Flanked by a small group of supporters in his Watertown campaign office, the retired colonel said his 28 years in the military can make a difference for those living in a Congressional district where more veterans live than anywhere else in the state.

He contended that Stefanik and fellow Republicans underfund the Department of Veteran Affairs, saying he’s against privatization at a time when the agency needs more funding.

He believes he can help with improving health care from the VA, especially for rural and older veterans who have a difficult time traveling to Syracuse and Albany to get benefits.

“Our soldiers, our retirees, those who need services are the reason I’m running,” he said.

With his military background, he knows what it’s like for soldiers and their families who live in the North Country because of Fort Drum, he said.

Davey served in the Marines from 1977 to 1985, when he left the military at the rank of captain. His son Seamus, a Marine corporal, was killed on Oct. 21, 2005, three days shy of his 26th birthday.

With fighting still going on in Afghanistan and against ISIS, Davey pointed out it’s the longest time that the country has been at war, so “we need someone who knows all aspects” of the military.

(Editor’s note: Four daily newspapers in the North Country — the Enterprise, Post-Star of Glens Falls, Watertown Daily Times and Press-Republican of Plattsburgh — are sharing content to better cover New York’s 21st Congressional District.)