Tommy Thompson

About the Tommy Thompson

Tommy George Thompsonis an American politician from Juneau County, Wisconsin. He served as the 19th United States secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2005 in the cabinet of President George W. Bush. Before that, he was the 42nd governor of Wisconsinand Republican floor leader in the Wisconsin State Assembly (1981-1987).

He is the longest-serving governor in Wisconsin history, holding office from January 1987 until February 2001, and is the only person to be elected to the office four times. During his tenure as governor he was also chair of Amtrak, the nation’s passenger rail service. He was chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 1991 and 1992, and the National Governors Association in 1995 and 1996. After his time in the Bush Administration, Thompson became a partner in the law-firm Akin Gump and Independent Chairman of Deloitte’s Center for Health Solutions. He has served on the boards of 22 other organizations. Thompson most recently served as interim president of the University of Wisconsin System from 2020 to 2022.

Thompson was a candidate for President of the United States, running in the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, but withdrew from the race before voting began. He was the Republican nominee for United States Senate in Wisconsin in the 2012 election, vying to replace retiring senator Herb Kohl, but was defeated by Democrat Tammy Baldwin in what was his only statewide election loss.