Tom Casperson

Tom Casperson (born July 20, 1959) is a politician from the State of Michigan. He formerly served as a Republican member of the Michigan State Senate, representing the 38th district, which includes much of the Upper Peninsula. He previously served in the Michigan State House of Representatives, representing the 108th district.

Casperson was born in Escanaba, Michigan in 1959. He graduated from Escanaba High School in 1977. He has worked in his family's log trucking business, Casperson and Son Trucking, for the past 25 years. He has owned the business for the past 10 years. He is married to Diane Casperson, with whom he has four children.

Casperson was elected to the Michigan State House in 2002. He is the vice chair of the House Transportation Committee and is a member of the Agriculture and Resource Management; Land Use and Environment; and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security committees.

In 2013, while on a radio talk program, Casperson said he was not sure President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Casperson is also trying to pass legislation that would require transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender noted on their birth certificate.

Congressional campaign

On May 14, 2008, Tom Casperson filed over 1700 petitions with the Secretary of State, formally launching his bid for Congress for the First Congressional District of Michigan as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Bart Stupak. That support translates into designating Casperson as the candidate that gathered the most support among all the candidates that have filed for the First Congressional District. Following his announcement of candidacy on March 17, Casperson traveled the entire District, covering all 31 Counties, and secured petitions from each county within the District.

According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Casperson reported total campaign finance receipts of $102,059 as of July, 2008 - of which three quarters of that amount was donated by individuals, one eighth from Political Action Committees (PAC) and one eighth the candidate himself loaned to his campaign. As of July the two other Republican contenders for the 1st Congressional District seat had not filed financial reports with the FEC. (Under the Federal Election Campaign Act only candidates who have raised (or spent) over $5,000 are required to file financial reports.) Rep. Bart Stupak, (D) Menominee, reported to the FEC $730,541 in total receipts; of which the majority was contributed by PAC's. Roughly three-eighths of the congressman's contributions came from individuals.

According to the FEC, Americans for Constitutional Enforcement (ACE) of Iron Mountain, the Michigan Farm Bureau PAC, the National Electrical Contractors PAC, the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association Federal PAC, the MILEAD Fund, and several Republican candidates and groups constitute Casperson's PAC support. Stupak has 16 pages of PAC's listed in his FEC report. PAC's supporting Stupak include numerous communications giants like AT&T, Alltel, Time Warner, Motorola, Sony, Universal, Verizon and Viacom. (Stupak chairs the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the U.S. House Commerce Committee - which conducts investigations and oversight of the telecommunications industry.) In the November 2008 election, Casperson was defeated by Stupak.

On November 2, 2010, Casperson was elected to the Michigan State Senate to represent the 38th Senate district which covers most of the Upper Peninsula except for Chippewa and Mackinac Counties in the east. Casperson is the first Republican to represent the western U.P. in the Michigan Senate since World War II.

• 2008 campaign for Congress
  • Tom Casperson (R), 33%
  • Bart Stupak (D), 65%
• 2006 campaign for State House
  • Tom Casperson (R), 55%
  • Judy Nerat (D), 44%
• 2004 campaign for State House
  • Tom Casperson (R), 68%
  • Dennis Baldinelli (D), 31%
• 2002 campaign for State House
  • Tom Casperson (R), 51%
  • Laurie Stupak (D), 48%