Tom Nelson (Wisconsin politician)


Tom Nelson is an American Democratic politician from Kaukauna, Wisconsin and the County Executive of Outagamie County, since April 19, 2011.
Nelson was the Democratic nominee for the United States House of Representatives seat for Wisconsin's 8th congressional district in 2016. He was defeated in the general election by Republican nominee Mike Gallagher.

Background

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota on March 3, 1976, Nelson graduated from Little Chute High School in 1994, earned a B.A. from Carleton College in 1998, and an M.P.A. from Princeton in 2004.

Legislative career

Nelson is a former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly representing the 5th Assembly District from 2005 - 2011. He was first elected to the Assembly in 2004, defeating Republican incumbent Becky Weber 15,014 to 14,249; and was assigned to the standing committees on health, insurance, rural development and transportation.
He was re-elected twice, and was elected Assembly Majority Leader in 2008.

Run for Lieutenant Governor

In 2010, Nelson announced that he was running for the position of Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, rather than seek re-election to the Assembly. On September 14, he won the Democratic nomination in a four-way race, winning an absolute majority over state senator Spencer Coggs and two others. Nelson and running mate Tom Barrett were defeated in the 2010 general election by Rebecca Kleefisch and Scott Walker. His assembly seat was taken by Republican Jim Steineke.

County executive

On April 5, 2011, Nelson defeated former Republican State Treasurer of Wisconsin Jack Voight for county executive of Outagamie County, by roughly 52% - 48%. Voight recognized the political unrest stemming from Scott Walker's policy drive to eliminate public workers' collective bargaining powers, saying "The labor movement has not only energized the Democratic Party base but a lot of the independents".

2016 U.S. House of Representatives election

On April 7, 2016, Nelson announced that he would run for the U.S. Congress seat being vacated by retiring Representative Reid Ribble. Nelson was defeated in the general election by Mike Gallagher, who won 63% of the vote.