Tom Tancredo

Thomas Gerard "Tom" Tancredo (1945-) is a prominent American conservative and Republican. He was a U.S. Representative from the suburban Denver, Colorado area, elected in 1998 and serving until 2008, when he did not run for reelection. He was, briefly, a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election. His "signature issue" is illegal immigration, but he is a positions himself as an intense foe of multiculturalism.

Tea Party Movement

At the National Tea Party Convention in February 2010, he verbally attacked both 2008 presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, always referring to the latter as "Barack Hussein Obama," whom he called a "committed socialist".

Immigration

Illegal immigration is the issue with which he is most associated. He founded the House Immigration Reform Caucus. For many years, Tancredo was the only Republican to vocally oppose President George W. Bush's immigration policies leading to Karl Rove to call him "a traitor to the president,” and warned him to never "darken the doorstep of the White House” in 2002. By 2006, however, he obtained support from other House conservatives.

Early career

After leaving the Department of Education, he became president of the conservative think tank, The Independence Institute where he remained until his election to Congress in 1998.

In the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, he served as Regional Representative to the U.S. Department of Education.

During his four years as a Colorado State Representative, Tancredo led a group of conservative legislators who then Democratic Governor Richard Lamm called the “House crazies.”

His conservative activism started with the College Republicans and Young Americans for Freedom at the University of Northern Colorado. After teaching junior high school for several years, he was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1977.

Education

• B.A., University of Northern Colorado