William Todd Tiahrt

Rep-Kan. 4th District

House Incumbent

Born June 15, 1951

Biography

Todd Tiahrt (pronounced TEE-heart) was born in Vermillion, S.D., and resides in Goddard, Kan. Tiahrt received a bachelor's degree from Evangel College in Springfield, Mo., and a master's degree in business administration from Southwest Missouri State University. Tiahrt taught economics, labor relations and personal finance at Evangel and Kansas Newman College in Wichita. He worked for 13 years for the Boeing Co., in marketing and as a proposal manager.

Tiahrt was elected to the state Senate in 1992. He was elected to the U.S. House in 1994 and re-elected in 1996, 1998 and 2000. Tiahrt and his wife, Vicki, have three children.

Profile

William Tiahrt scored a coup for the Republican Party by ousting nine-term Democratic Rep. Dan Glickman in 1994. Tiahrt made Glickman's 18 years on Capitol Hill his main campaign issue and tied the Democrat to the unpopular Clinton administration.

"I am a working man who cares about the financial bottom line. I'm sick and tired of all the hype and all the waste," he said when he first ran. "I don't have the Clinton administration breaking their necks to get me into office. We need new ideas in Washington. We've had enough lip service, we need leadership."

In his 1994 upset victory over Glickman, Tiahrt carried every county in the district but one. In the 1996 race, Tiahrt again won every county but one, but kept his seat by only 3 percentage points. The 4th District encompasses a 12-county stretch in south-central Kansas. Sedgwick County includes the state's largest city, Wichita, and has more than two-thirds of the voters in the district.

In the past, Tiahrt worked to repeal the Wright Amendment that impeded air service to Wichita for years. He also helped get $35 million to help Wichita solve its problem with train crossings.

As a staunch conservative, one of his biggest accomplishments in Congress has been blocking U.S. aid to overseas governments that give women access to abortions and contraceptives. He's also worked to prevent taxpayer finance programs that provide clean needles to drug addicts to combat AIDS.

He became part of the House leadership during his third term, becoming one of 16 deputy whips by the House GOP's chief vote-counter, Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Yet Tiahrt has managed not to alienate moderate Republicans in Kansas like Gov. Bill Graves.

During his fourth term, Tiahrt worked to help prop up a local economy that was sent reeling by the Sept. 11 attacks. He used his influence as a member of the House Appropriations Committee's defense spending panel to push the Pentagon to lease military refueling tankers that would be built in Wichita, and he helped lobby for a new support role for McConnell Air Force Base following a Defense Department decision to send the base's B-1 bombers and combat mission elsewhere in the military. He also voted for normal trading relations with China, although in the past he voted against the annual extension of China's trade status.

Tiahrt serves on the House Appropriations Committee, where he sits on the defense, transportation and treasury, postal service and general government subcommittees.

The American Conservative Union gave him a 96 percent rating in 2001, while the liberal Americans for Democratic Action said he voted in favor of their position zero percent of the time.

Campaigns

William Tiahrt was elected to the U.S. House in 1994, defeating Glickman with 53 percent of the vote. Tiahrt was re-elected in 1996 with 50 percent of the vote against Democrat Randy Rathburn.

Democrats had thought Tiahrt would be relegated to having relatively close races because of his conservative politics, but in 1998, Tiahrt defeated Democrat Jim Lawing with 58 percent of the vote.

In 2000 he fended off a re-election bid against Democrat Carlos Nolla, a former Glickman aide, winning 54 percent of the vote to Nolla's 42 percent. Nolla signed up for a rematch and won the nomination in 2002.

Contact

To reach William Todd Tiahrt or staff in Washington, call 202-225-6216, or in Kansas, call 316-262-8992. Email: tiahrt@mail.house.gov. World Wide Web: www.house.gov/tiahrt.