Government : Meet the Candidates: Thomas Hansen, Congress 1st District (R)

Editor's Note: Vinton Today invited candidates to introduce themselves to the voters and to share a little bit with you about their stance on the issues. We will publish these as they arrive.

Hello, my name is Thomas Hansen and I am running for the First District Congressional seat here in Northeast Iowa. I was born in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. I ended up in Iowa because my neighbors out in Las Vegas were an intern minister and his wife from Decorah. When it came time to move back, they had their friend, Jeanett, come out to help. I met her the last day she was there when they needed help loading the U-Haul. Jeanett and I stayed up all night exchanging our life's stories and the next day, Monday, she got in the truck and left. On Friday, I flew into LaCrosse, drove down to Decorah, found her, and asked her to marry me. On 26 December 2019, we celebrated our 32 year wedding anniversary. Yes, Faith and commitment are very important to me.

We moved back to Decorah in 1989, to help her parents on the farm, which has been in the family since 1872. I used my engineering background to start Hansen Refrigeration which has served NEIowa for 32 plus years now. In 1995, I combined my influence with my restaurant customers along with Jeanett's experience, now 45 plus years, in the meat business to turn our cattle operation into Rock Cedar Ranch All-Natural Beef which sells to both commercial and private customers in the area. We have one daughter, Addie Rose, who is a nurse.

I have always been politically active, writing over 200 editorials on a variety of different subjects, working to change laws enhancing private property rights for citizens here in Winneshiek County, starting the Northeast Iowa Tea Party, resurrecting the Winneshiek County Republican Party and serving on the Republican State Platform Committee for the last eight years where I assisted rewriting the Platform to make it more concise in order to hold our elected representatives more accountable to the will of the people. I have also been a volunteer EMT and, for the last two decades, have been in charge of putting on the Decorah Area Thanksgiving Dinner.

There are two things that clearly set me apart from my opponents. First, I was always taught to never start a project without plans or criticize someone else's idea without having a better one of your own. So one of the first things I did in my campaign was to put my plans for what I want to do and how I want to do them in writing for everyone to see. I am still the only one in this race, on either side of the aisle, to do this and you may read them for yourself at hansenforcongress.com

The second thing is that I have made it clear from the beginning that I will not go to Washington with the attitude that I will "reach across the aisle and work with anyone". As the recent crisis has brought to light, there are those in Washington and across America who are looking to strip us of our Liberties, shred the Constitution and weave their socialist agenda into the fabric of American society. I purchased my first book, 'The Life and Times of George Washington', when I was seven years old and have been studying history and Constitutional philosophies for 50 years now, it is my passion. I understand that trying to appease people like these has always led to disaster and that they are a cancer to the Ideals and Principles upon which this great Nation was founded and they need to be stopped. Working with others within the confines of the Constitution to solve our problems will be my priority.

I would hope this gives all of you the confidence to identify me as someone that understands the problems facing our Nation, is knowledgeable and experienced enough to devise answers and is a leader not one of the sheep. I would greatly appreciate your support in the Republican Primary on June 2 and again in the General Election on November 3. Thank you