Status: Withdrawn
Entered Race: September 1st, 2007
Fred Dalton Thompson is a former Republican Senator from Tennessee and a possible Republican candidate for the presidency in 2008. He was born in Sheffield, Alabama on August 19, 1942 and attended public schools in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. When he was 17 years old, Thompson married Sarah Elizabeth Lindsey. They were divorced 25 years later, and Thompson has two surviving children and several grandchildren from that marriage. In 2002, one of his daughters died. Later that year, he married Jeri Kehn, a Republican lawyer who is 25 years his junior. They have two children. Thompson has said that he has a treatable form of lymphoma.
Thompson began his political career as an anti-union activist, after which he established his county's Young Republican club. He joined former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker's reelection campaign in 1972. Thompson was elected to the Senate in a 1994 special election to fill the seat left vacant after Al Gore was elected Vice-President. Thompson was re-elected in 1996, but did not seek reelection in 2002.
Thompson began his political career as an anti-union activist, after which he established his county's Young Republican club. He joined former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker's reelection campaign in 1972. Thompson was elected to the Senate in a 1994 special election to fill the seat left vacant after Al Gore was elected Vice-President. Thompson was re-elected in 1996, but did not seek reelection in 2002.