Before he became a Congressman, Tom Tiffany was a state senator, a small business owner, and a farm kid. He has deep roots in Wisconsin farming communities and rural life, as well as small business ownership.
Here are some facts you might not know about the future Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor.
1. He graduated from UW-River Falls with a degree in agricultural economics in 1980. He was born in Wabasha, MN, but grew up on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin, milking cows near Elmwood with seven siblings. (Daily Herald)
2. Tiffany graduated from Elmwood High School in Pierce Co, WI, in 1976. (Elmwood, located between Eau Claire and Minneapolis, is known for UFO sightings…lol.)
3. He worked for farm supply cooperatives (Plainview, MN).
4. He then ran a petroleum distribution company in Minocqua for Zenker Oil.
“It was a terrific training ground,” he said. “The general manager handed me the books of what they sold, gave me a pickup truck, and told me to go sell. It was really sink or swim.’ He eventually managed the co-op’s petroleum division, then moved to another co-op before he moved to Minocqua to run a small petroleum distribution company.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/7/15)
5. He served as the “dam tender” on the Willow Flowage for 29 years.
6. For 11 years, through 2012, he ran a tour boat company in Oneida Co. and then moved it to the Wisconsin River. “Married with three daughters, Tiffany lives on the Willow Flowage in Oneida County. [Tiffany] and his wife, Chris, operated a tour boat business on the remote reservoir from 1991 to 2006, then moved it to the Wisconsin River in Rhinelander in 2007 and ran it until 2012, when they sold the business.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/7/15)
7. Tiffany managed the Cedar Falls campground and Wilderness Queen Cruise Line in Oneida Co. “The land surrounding the last of the large, undeveloped river reservoirs in Wisconsin the 6,375-acre Willow Flowage in Oneida County will be bought by the state later this month for $9.8 million, Gov. Tommy Thompson plans to announce Monday. … Tom Tiffany, manager of both the Cedar Falls campground on the north end of the flowage and the Wilderness Queen cruise line, walks through these bountiful acres every morning.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/5/97)
8. For six years, he was a town supervisor in Little Rice.
9. He ran twice for state senate and lost before winning an Assembly race in 2010.
10. In 2012, he defeated a Democrat by 17 points to win a state Senate seat. He was re-elected in 2016.
11. He endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 presidential primary.
12. He won a special election for Congress in 2020.
