Thomas Stewart Udall is an American diplomat, lawyer and politician serving as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa since 2021.
29 Facts About Tom Udall
2.
Tom Udall served as the US representative for from 1999 to 2009 and New Mexico Attorney General from 1991 to 1999.
3.
Tom Udall was first elected in the 2008 Senate race and was re-elected in 2014, and became dean of New Mexico's congressional delegation as its longest serving member.
4.
Tom Udall did not seek a third term in 2020, making him the only Democratic senator to retire that cycle.
5.
On July 16,2021, President Joe Biden nominated Tom Udall to serve as United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
6.
Tom Udall was born in Tucson, Arizona, to Ermalee Lenora and Stewart Tom Udall, the Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969.
7.
Tom Udall is of partial Swiss ancestry on his mother's side.
8.
Tom Udall completed his undergraduate education at Prescott College, before going on to receive a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Cambridge and a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
9.
In 1982, Tom Udall ran for Congress in the newly created 3rd district, based in the state capital, Santa Fe, and including most of the north of the state.
10.
Tom Udall ran for Congress again in 1998 in the 3rd district against incumbent Bill Redmond, who had been elected in a 1997 special election to replace Richardson.
11.
Redmond was a conservative Republican representing a heavily Democratic district, and Tom Udall defeated Redmond with 53 percent of the vote.
12.
Tom Udall was reelected four more times with no substantive opposition, including an unopposed run in 2002.
13.
Tom Udall was a member of the United States House Peak oil Caucus, which he co-founded with Representative Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland.
14.
Tom Udall sat on the United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations in the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies and the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch.
15.
Tom Udall was the Co-Vice Chair of the House Native American Caucus and Co-Chair of the International Conservation Caucus.
16.
In November 2007, Tom Udall announced his run for the Senate seat held by retiring six-term incumbent Republican Pete Domenici.
17.
Pearce won the Republican nomination, and lost to Tom Udall, who won 61 percent of the vote.
18.
Tom Udall voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, DREAM Act, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
19.
Tom Udall was one of the first members of Congress to publicly express concern about the possibility of NSA overreach, a year before Edward Snowden's 2013 disclosure of the PRISM program.
20.
On March 25,2019, Tom Udall announced that he would not run for reelection in 2020.
21.
In November 2020, it was reported that Tom Udall was being considered for Secretary of the Interior in the Biden Administration.
22.
Also during the 113th Congress, Tom Udall introduced a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would reverse Citizens United and allow limits on outside spending in support of political candidates.
23.
In March 2015 Udall sponsored Senate bill 697, the Frank R Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, a bill to amend and reauthorize the Toxic Substances Control Act.
24.
In 2013, Tom Udall voted for state-by-state reciprocity of concealed carry and for the names of gun owners to be protected and released only in select situations.
25.
In late 2019, Tom Udall co-sponsored the Green New Deal, a policy introduced in the US Senate that would establish net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
26.
On July 16,2021, President Joe Biden nominated Tom Udall to serve as United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
27.
Tom Udall presented his credentials to the New Zealand governor-general, Dame Cindy Kiro, in Wellington on December 2,2021.
28.
Tom Udall is the son of former Arizona Congressman and Interior Secretary Stewart Lee Udall, nephew of Arizona Congressman Morris Udall, and first cousin of former Colorado US Senator Mark Udall, double second cousin of former Oregon US Senator Gordon Smith, and second cousin of Utah US Senator Mike Lee.
29.
Tom Udall is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.