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Tom Tancredo grew up in Denver, Colorado, and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Political Science.

Tom and his wife Jackie have been married for 21 years, and they have raised two children and have one grandchild, Thomas, whom they call "the light of our lives."

In 1976, while teaching civics at Drake Junior High School, Tom was elected to the state legislature, and re-elected in 1978 and 1980. He was a leader in the conservative freshman class, which won legislative victories in abolishing the state's sales tax on food and utilities, in abolishing the state's inheritance tax, and in abolishing the auto safety inspection sticker tax.

In 1981, Tom resigned his seat in the legislature to accept an appointment in the Reagan administration. He served as the Secretary of Education's Regional Representative and was re-appointed by President Bush. Tom succeeded in downsizing the regional office from 220 employees to approximately 60, resulting in a 75 percent saving in the regional office budget. This success was in spite of strong opposition from the national unions and their defenders in Congress.

In May 1993, Tom accepted the presidency of the Independence Institute, a conservative, public policy research organization in Golden, Colorado. During his tenure, the Institute experienced dramatic growth in both revenues and visibility. The Institute's weekly television program - Independent

Thinking - is well regarded, and Tom was a regular panelist on the TV program Colorado Inside Out. Tom has been a leading spokesman for initiatives ranging from term limits, to school choice and parents' rights.

In August 1998, Tom won the Republican Primary in a five person race for the Sixth Congressional District of Colorado, which includes parts of Jefferson and Arapahoe Counties. Tom was elected to Congress in November 1998, and was appointed to the Education and the Workforce Committee, the Committee on Resources, and the Committee on International Relations.