Craig L. Thomas

Craig Thomas
United States Senator from Wyoming
In office January 4 1995 – June 4 2007
Preceded by	Malcolm Wallop
Succeeded by	TBD
Personal details
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Susan Thomas

Craig Lyle Thomas (February 17 1933 – June 4 2007) was an American politican who served almost 12 1/2 years as a Republican United States Senator from Wyoming. In the Senate, Thomas was considered an expert on agriculture and rural development and had a degree in the field. He had served in key positions in several state agencies, including a long tenure as Vice President of the Wyoming Farm Bureau from 1965-1974. In 1984, he was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives, in which he served until 1989.

In 1989, Dick Cheney, who occupied Wyoming's only seat in the House of Representatives, resigned to become Secretary of Defense. Thomas became the Republican candidate to replace him in the April 1989 special election, and won. He was re-elected in 1990 and 1992, and in 1994 he ran for and won the Senate seat being vacated by fellow conservative Republican Malcolm Wallop of Sheridan in northeastern Wyoming. He was re-elected in 2000 and 2006, having easily Democratic candidates in both elections with margins of 70 percent or more.

Thomas was married to Susan Thomas, a public school teacher for special-needs students in Arlington, Virginia. They had four children.

Biography

Craig Thomas was born and reared in Cody, the seat of Park County in northwestern Wyoming some fifty miles from Yellowstone National Park. He attended public schools. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in Laramie with a degree in agriculture. Thereafter, he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1955-1959; he attained the rank of Captain. He was vice president of the Farm Bureau and general manager of the Wyoming Rural Electrification Administration. After five years in the Wyoming House, Thomas won a special election to replace Dick Cheney as Wyoming's lone member of the United States House of Representatives; he was re-elected to that seat in 1990 and 1992. In 1994, he ran for the United States Senate and won. He was elected second term as senator in 2000 by a 74 percent majority, one of the largest margins in Wyoming election history. He was re-elected to a third term in 2006 with 70 percent of the vote.

Official portrait

As chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee, Thomas authored legislation to provide funding and management reforms to protect America's national parks into the 21st century. For this and other relevant legislation, Thomas was honored by the National Parks and Conservation Association with their William Penn Mott, Jr., Park Leadership Award, as well as the National Parks Achievement Award. As the senior member of the Senate's influential Finance Committee, Thomas had been involved in issues such as Social Security, trade, rural health care, and tax reform. As co-chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, Senator Thomas worked on legislation to improve health care opportunities for rural families.

Illness and death

Thomas entered the hospital shortly before the balloting occurred in November 2006, and was initially treated for pneumonia. Two days after the 2006 election, Thomas' diagnosis of leukemia was announced. He immediately underwent treatment in the form of chemotherapy at the hospital and then returned to work in December, a month earlier than expected. In early 2007, Thomas said he was feeling better than he had in a long time, but he returned to the hospital for a second round of chemotherapy a month later. On June 4 2007, Thomas was reported in serious condition, struggling with an infection while undergoing a second round of chemotherapy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Thomas was pronounced dead that same day due to complications from leukemia at 9:53 PM EST.

Under Wyoming law, the state's Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal must appoint a new senator from a list of three submitted by the Wyoming Republican Party's central committee. That successor will serve until a special election in 2008, with that election determining who holds the seat until the expiration of the term following the 2012 election.

External links

• United States Senator Craig Thomas official Senate site
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• Federal Election Commission — Craig Thomas campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Craig Thomas issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Craig Thomas campaign contributions
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• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Craig Thomas profile
• Friends and associates remember Craig Thomas