Tom Petri
| Tom Petri | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 6th district |
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In office April 3, 1979 – January 3, 2015 |
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| Preceded by | Bill Steiger |
| Succeeded by | Glenn Grothman |
| Member of the Wisconsin Senate from the 2nd district |
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In office January 1973 – January 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Myron Lotto |
| Succeeded by | Don Hanaway |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 28, 1940 Marinette, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Neal |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Religion | Lutheranism |
Thomas Evert Petri (born May 28, 1940) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 6th congressional district from 1979 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Petri was born in Marinette, Wisconsin. When he was a toddler, his father, a Navy flyer and lieutenant during World War II, was lost during a mission over the Atlantic. Petri, his infant brother, and his widowed mother moved to Fond du Lac, where Petri's mother taught in the Fond du Lac public schools. He represented his high school as a delegate to the youth government and leadership program Badger Boys State in 1957.
He graduated from Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac. Petri then attended Harvard University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees.
He was one of the founders of the Ripon Society, a public policy organization aligned with the Republican Party.
He served as a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Somalia from 1966-1967.
Petri served in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1973 to 1979.
Petri ran for the U.S. Senate in 1974. He won the Republican primary with 85% of the vote. During the campaign, Petri walked across the state of Wisconsin as part of his grassroots strategy. In the general election, incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson defeated Petri 62%–36%. Petri took five of 72 counties in the state.
In 1979, he won a special election to finish the term of the late U.S. Congressman William A. Steiger, who had died shortly after being re-elected in 1978. He won the seat in his own right in 1980 and was reelected 16 times. He only won re-election with less than 64% once, in 1992. That year, he defeated State Representative Peg Lautenschlager 53% to 47%. He won ten of the district's thirteen counties. He lost Manitowoc, Brown, and Outagamie counties. He ran unopposed in 1990, 1994, 2002, and 2006. He faced no major-party opposition in 1986 and 1998. In April 2014, Petri announced he would not seek re-election in November 2014.
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