ia_gov_vilsack

STATE SENATOR TOM VILSACK
Democratic candidate --

• Vilsack was abandoned at birth at a Catholic orphanage. He was adopted when he was four months old by Bud and Dolly Vilsack and raised in Pittsburgh. His new home was not trouble-free. His adoptive mother was an alcoholic and abused prescription drugs, and his parents separated when Tom was 13. When he was in high school, his mother joined Alcoholics Anonymous and his parents reunited.

• Vilsack attended Hamilton College, where he met his wife, Christie. He met her on a dare when he approached her in a college cafeteria and asked her who she was going to vote for in the upcoming election.

• After graduating from college in 1972, Vilsack attended law school and received his J. D. from Albany Law School at Union University in 1975.

• Vilsack and his wife moved to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, his wifeÂ's home town, after he finished law school, and he joined his father-in-lawÂ's practice in Mt. Pleasant. One of his major successes was winning a class action lawsuit against major health insurance companies, which were forced to return $13 million to 86,000 Iowa policyholders. Vilsack also became involved in the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association and served as president in 1985.

• In December 1986, the mayor of Mt. Pleasant was shot and killed by a disgruntled citizen at a City Council meeting. At the urging of the deceased mayorÂ's father, Vilsack ran for the position and won. He was re-elected in 1989, but did not seek third term in 1991. Yet 90% of the voters wrote in his name in that election, and he continued to serve as mayor. He did not complete the term and resigned to run for State Senate.

• Vilsack was elected to the Iowa Senate in 1992 and ran unopposed for re-election in 1994. He is currently serving his third term and making his first bid for statewide office.