Tom Leppert (R-TX-Senate)

Tom Leppert

Campaign links:

Thomas C. “Tom” Leppert

Tom Leppert Senatorial Candidate Texas

Biography of Tom Leppert from Texans for Tom Leppert

Tom Leppert is a conservative Texas Republican running for U.S. Senate. He is a real-life job-creator and a leader who makes the tough calls. He has proven his determination in both the public and private sectors, and he is committed to go to Washington with that same resolve.

Tom is a businessman at heart. Prior to his election as Mayor of Dallas, Tom led major national and international companies in the areas of construction, financial services and real estate, including serving as CEO of The Turner Corporation, the nation’s largest general building company. Tom refocused the company on what it did best and worked to take the company into new markets, resulting in the creation of thousands of new jobs during Tom’s leadership of Turner.

Elected Mayor of Dallas in June 2007, Tom has led the city to become a focal point in the nation in the areas of economic development, education and public safety. As mayor, Tom employed business principles and commonsense conservative judgment to cut spending and bureaucracy. Washington seems to think all our problems can be solved by spending more of our tax dollars, but Tom believes we must keep government small, lean and efficient. Tom put this into practice in Dallas. When the city needed to respond to rising crime rates by hiring more police, Tom refused to ask taxpayers to foot the bill. Instead, he cut spending in other areas to expand the police force and implement new approaches to law enforcement. The crime rate dropped by double digits, with violent crime plummeting 30 percent.

As Mayor, Tom pursued policies built around his understanding that it is the private sector, not government, that creates jobs. He worked closely with business leaders to make Dallas more job-friendly. Today, Dallas’ economy continues to expand. Downtown Dallas is experiencing a renaissance with AT&T, Tenet Healthcare and over 50 other companies now calling downtown Dallas home.

Tom has also taken the initiative in education. Good schools do not come from distant bureaucrats making decisions for families. He believes that in order to keep Texas strong, we need to provide parents with the choices to play an active role in their children’s education and offer teachers the tools they need to help their students achieve. In Dallas, the Mayor’s Intern Fellows program just completed its second year placing high school students from challenged schools in corporate offices for the summer. The Ready to Read pre-literacy program has reached nearly 60,000 children and the Mayor’s Chesapeake Energy Scholarships continue to provide financial support for students. Tom has donated all of his mayoral salary to scholarships.

With the rising cost of energy, Tom knows that the last thing working families need is a new tax placed on gas or a national energy tax, like cap-and-trade. In Dallas, Tom took a conservative tack, working to reduce energy use and pollution without raising taxes. Dallas has emerged as one of the top sustainable cities in the country.

In addition, Tom has led two major, successful referendum efforts in three years, reforming local ethics standards and working to hold tax rates while Dallas has continued to make these major investments.

Raised by a single mother, Tom worked his way through college, earning a degree from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He later served under Ronald Reagan as a White House fellow in both the Treasury Department and in the White House.

Tom’s faith plays a vital role in his life, and that faith has formed the framework for all of his decisions in both public and private life. Tom and his family are members of First Baptist Church and Park Cities Baptist Church.

A lifelong community volunteer, he has served numerous community groups and charitable organizations on both the local and national levels. He has been recognized for his leadership, including “CEO of the Year” for 2008 by D Magazine, the “Torch of Conscience Award” from the American Jewish Congress, the Russell H. Perry Free Enterprise Award from Dallas Baptist University and “Texas Businessman of the Year Award” from the Texas Association of Business.

Tom and his wife Laura live in Dallas. They have been married for 25 years. Their son Christian and twins, Catherine and Ryan, are all in college.