 thomas gerard "tom" tancredo (; born december 20, 1945) is an american politician from colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the united states house of representatives from 1999 to 2009, as a republican. he ran for president of the united states during the 2008 election, and was the constitution party's unsuccessful nominee for governor of colorado in 2010. tancredo was initially elected to the colorado house of representatives in 1976 and served two terms. after working in the united states department of education during the ronald reagan and george h.w. bush administrations, he was elected to the united states congress, and served five terms. he decided to not seek re-election in 2008. tancredo ran for the republican party nomination for president in 2008, centering his campaign on the issues of illegal immigration and terrorism. he dropped out of the race in december 2007 to assist former massachusetts governor mitt romney in his campaign for the nomination. tancredo announced on july 26, 2010 that he planned to change parties and run for governor of colorado on the american constitution party ticket. he received 617,030 votes (36.7%), coming in second place, well ahead of the republican party nominee, who got about 11% of the vote. tancredo ran for governor in 2014, this time as a republican, because of his opposition to current colorado governor john hickenlooper's refusal to execute convicted murderer nathan dunlap, as well as hickenlooper's attempts to pass gun control legislation.catalina camia 
1945_births American_Presbyterians American_antiaillegal_immigration_activists American_evangelicals American_people_of_Italian_descent Christian_creationists College_Republicans Colorado_Republicans Constitution_Party_(United_States)_politicians Former_Roman_Catholics Living_people Members_of_the_Colorado_House_of_Representatives Members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_from_Colorado Politicians_from_Denver,_Colorado Republican_Party_members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives Tea_Party_movement_activists United_States_presidential_candidates,_2008 University_of_Northern_Colorado_alumni