Tommy Thompson Bio
Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 19th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2005 and as the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he is the longest-serving governor in Wisconsin history and remains the only person to be elected to the office four times. After leaving federal service, Thompson worked in law and consulting, sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, and later returned to public life as interim president of the University of Wisconsin System from 2020 to 2022.
Early Life and Background
Tommy George Thompson was born on November 19, 1941, in Elroy, Wisconsin. He was raised in a working family; his father, Allan Thompson, owned and operated a local gas station and country grocery store, while his mother, Julie (née Dutton), worked as a teacher. Growing up in the small central Wisconsin community shaped Thompson’s rural roots and grounded the political identity he would carry throughout his career.
Thompson’s brother, the late Ed Thompson, later became the Libertarian Party nominee for governor of Wisconsin in 2002 and served as mayor of Tomah, Wisconsin. Tommy Thompson earned his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, completing them in 1963 and 1966, respectively. During his time in law school, he was elected chairman of the Madison Young Republicans, an early sign of his lifelong commitment to the Republican Party.
Path to US Politics
Thompson’s entry into public life came almost immediately after law school, when he ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1966. He defeated the incumbent in the Republican primary by 635 votes and went on to represent his district in the Assembly for many years. He rose through the chamber’s leadership ranks, becoming assistant minority leader in 1973 and minority leader in 1981, where he earned the nickname "Dr. No" for his aggressive use of parliamentary procedure to block legislation favored by the Democratic majority.
Thompson built a reputation as a conservative reformer and earned a Thomas Jefferson Award from the American Legislative Exchange Council in 1991. He also held early leadership roles with the Republican Governors Association, serving as its chairman in 1991 and 1992, and with the National Governors Association, which he chaired in 1995 and 1996. These positions prepared him for a successful run for governor in 1986.
Tommy Thompson Career
Early Career (1966–1986)
Thompson’s first notable electoral step was his 1966 win in the Wisconsin State Assembly, where he unseated an incumbent Republican. Over the next two decades, he built a reputation for disciplined opposition, eventually serving as Republican floor leader in the Assembly from 1981 to 1987. In 1979, he sought the Republican nomination for Wisconsin’s 6th congressional district in a special election following the death of Congressman William Steiger, though state Senator Tom Petri won the nomination and the seat.
Thompson’s experience in the Assembly, combined with his early involvement in conservative policy networks, positioned him as a leading Republican figure in Wisconsin. By the mid-1980s, he was ready to challenge incumbent Democratic Governor Anthony Earl, setting the stage for a transformative tenure in state government.
Wisconsin Governor (1987–2001)
Thompson decided to run for Governor of Wisconsin in 1986 and won the Republican primary with 52% of the vote in a five-candidate field. He defeated Governor Anthony Earl 53%–46% in the general election, beginning what would become a record-setting tenure. He was reelected three more times, defeating Thomas Loftus 58%–42%, Chuck Chvala 67%–31%, and Ed Garvey 60%–39%, winning every county in the state except Menominee County in his third race. He is the only person elected governor of Wisconsin four times.
As governor, Thompson was a pioneer of welfare reform. Under his leadership, Wisconsin reduced its welfare rolls by almost 90 percent, cutting welfare spending while increasing investments in child care and health care, especially for low-income working families. He was a driving force behind Wisconsin Works (W-2) and created BadgerCare, a health coverage program for working families whose employers do not provide insurance. In 1990, he pushed for the creation of the country’s first parental school-choice program, providing Milwaukee families with vouchers to attend private or public schools.
Thompson was also known for his sweeping use of the line-item veto. In his first two terms alone, he used it 1,500 times to cancel $150 million in spending, and none of those vetoes were overridden. He served as chairman of the Amtrak Board of Directors, advocated for modernizing passenger rail in the Midwest, and chaired the National Governors Association and the Education Commission of the States during his tenure.
Secretary of Health and Human Services (2001–2005)
President George W. Bush appointed Thompson as the 19th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in January 2001, and the Senate confirmed him on January 24, 2001. At HHS, his major initiatives focused on strengthening national preparedness for bioterrorism, increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health, expanding health insurance coverage for lower-income Americans, and drawing attention to obesity and diabetes.
Thompson was one of the key architects of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, which created the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and he frequently served as the president’s point man on the issue. He approved 1,400 state plans and waiver requests, providing health insurance to 1.8 million lower-income Americans, and reorganized the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to encourage greater responsiveness and efficiency. In 2003, he was elected chairman of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He resigned from HHS on December 3, 2004, and served until January 26, 2005.
Post-Government and University Era (2005–2025)
After leaving government, Thompson joined the law firm Akin Gump as a partner and served as senior advisor at Deloitte and Independent Chairman of its Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. He sat on the boards of roughly two dozen private companies and nonprofit organizations, accumulating a disclosed net worth of about $13 million by 2012. He ran for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination but withdrew after finishing sixth in the 2007 Ames straw poll. In 2012, he sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin and lost to Democrat Tammy Baldwin, 45.9% to 51.5%, his only statewide election defeat.
Thompson continued in public life as a delegate to multiple Republican National Conventions and remained active in state and national politics. In the fall of 2019, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents named him interim president of the system. He served nearly two years in that role before announcing in January 2022 that he would step down, effective March 18, 2022. He also joined the Council for Responsible Social Media project in October 2022, focused on addressing the negative impacts of social media in the United States.
Notable Events and Milestones
Thompson’s defining moments include his unprecedented four elections as governor of Wisconsin, his role in cutting the state’s welfare rolls by nearly 90 percent, and his creation of the country’s first parental school-choice program. As HHS Secretary, he helped craft the Medicare prescription drug benefit, the most significant health care legislation of President George W. Bush’s first term, and led the national response to the 2001 anthrax attacks. His 2012 Senate run, his brief 2008 presidential campaign, and his service as interim president of the University of Wisconsin System round out a public career spanning more than five decades.
Tommy Thompson Career Wins
Thompson’s electoral record is one of the most successful in Wisconsin history. He won four consecutive elections for governor, three of them by wide margins, and was defeated only once in a statewide race, in his 2012 Senate bid. He also held leadership posts in the Republican Governors Association, the National Governors Association, Amtrak, the Council of State Governments, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Family
Family Background and Public Service Lineage
Thompson was raised in Elroy, Wisconsin, by his father, Allan Thompson, who ran a gas station and country grocery store, and his mother, Julie (née Dutton), a teacher. His brother, Ed Thompson, served as mayor of Tomah, Wisconsin, and was the Libertarian Party nominee for governor of Wisconsin in 2002. Thompson married Sue Mashak in 1968, and the couple have a daughter, Kelli Thompson, who served as Wisconsin’s state public defender until she stepped down in 2023.
Personal Life
Thompson is Catholic and identifies as anti-abortion. He is a rail enthusiast and an advocate of mass transit, interests that sometimes put him at odds with members of his own party. Thompson and his wife, Sue, have been married since 1968, and their daughter Kelli has followed in his footsteps in public service.