Thomas, Craig Lyle (1933-2007), was a member of the United States Senate from 1995 until his death. Thomas, a Republican who represented Wyoming, was known for his concern with agricultural interests, rural health care, and the management of public lands. He favored transferring control of some federal land to the states in which the land is located.
Thomas was born in Cody, Wyoming, on Feb. 17, 1933. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming in 1955. From 1955 to 1959, he served in the United States Marine Corps. From 1960 to 1966, Thomas was executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau, an organization of farmers and ranchers in the state and an affiliate of the American Farm Bureau Federation, a nationwide farm organization. He was general manager of the American Farm Bureau Federation from 1966 to 1975. Thomas served as general manager of the Wyoming Rural Electric Association from 1975 to 1989.
In 1984, Thomas was elected to the Wyoming state House of Representatives and served until 1988. In April 1989, Thomas won a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives to finish the term of Richard B. Cheney, who had been appointed U.S. secretary of defense. Thomas was reelected to the House in 1990 and 1992. He won his first election to the U.S. Senate in 1994 and took office in 1995. He was reelected in 2000 and 2006. Thomas died of leukemia on June 4, 2007, during his third term. Later that month, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal selected John A. Barrasso to serve in Thomas’s place until January 2009. Barrasso won a special election in November 2008 to fill the Senate seat for the remainder of Thomas’s term, which ended in 2013.
