Tom Leonard

Thomas L. Leonard III (born April 20, 1981) is an American attorney and politician.

Leonard announced on August 11, 2011, that would run for state representative in Michigan's 93rd District.

Leonard planned to embody "principled, conservative leadership in the State House" and on bringing his experience as a former prosecutor to stand up for the citizens of Michigan.

Leonard received some prominent endorsements in the primary, including Senator Alan Cropsey, Clinton County Sheriff Wayne Kangas, and the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce.

He narrowly won the Republican primary against Clinton County farmer Kevin Kirk by 204 votes.

Elected in 2012 to succeed term-limited Paul Opsommer, Leonard represented the residents of Clinton and Gratiot County.

Prior to that, he worked as a prosecutor.

Leonard went on to win the 2012 November general election with 56.6% of the vote and assumed office in January 2013.

In 2012, Leonard left the attorney general's office to serve as state representative.

During his first term in office, Leonard was elected to the House Leadership team as Majority Caucus Vice-chair.

After serving as the ranking vice-chair of the Insurance Committee, Leonard was selected as Chair of the House Insurance Committee in his second term.

In September 2013, Leonard was selected as one of the American Conservative Union's "10 under 40" rising conservative leaders from across the country.

Leonard is a Concealed Pistol License (CPL) holder and a Lifetime member of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA).

He has maintained an "A+" rating with the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners ("MCRGO"-PAC) and an "A" rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund.

In Leonard's first term, he co-sponsored legislation that protects law-abiding citizens' CPL information from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Leonard is a member of the DeWitt Lions Club and the Clinton County Farm Bureau.

He is also the former chairman of the DeWitt Public Safety Committee and an active member of the St. Johns Kiwanis Club.

Leonard and his wife Jenell, who serves as the Director of the Michigan Film and Digital Media Office, live in DeWitt Charter Township with their daughter, Hannah.

Leonard was re-elected to his seat twice, defeating Josh Derke by over 20% in 2014 and almost 30% in 2016.

Leonard was also chosen by his Republican colleagues in 2014 to serve as second-in-line in House leadership as the Speaker Pro Tempore, a position which allowed him to preside over the House as Speaker during the absence of the Speaker of the House.

In November 2016, Leonard was selected by the House Republican Caucus to serve as Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, succeeding term-limited Speaker Kevin Cotter.

He is a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives who served as Speaker of the House from 2017 to 2019.

In January 2017, Leonard was formally elected Speaker of the House by a unanimous bipartisan vote of the entire Michigan House of Representatives.

Leonard unsuccessfully ran for Michigan Attorney General in 2018 and was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.

Leonard has a bachelor's degree in history and Spanish from the University of Michigan.

Leonard received his Juris Doctor from Michigan State University College of Law.

Leonard worked in the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office under longtime Democratic prosecutor David Leyton.

Leonard became an assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan, working under former Attorney General Mike Cox.

Leonard was the 2018 Republican nominee for Michigan Attorney General.

He was narrowly defeated by Democrat Dana Nessel.

Immediately after securing support among his Republican colleagues to be the next Speaker of the House, Leonard laid out three top priorities for his final term in the Legislature.

His three priorities were mental health reform, expanding skilled trades education in Michigan schools, and reforming the state's underwater teacher pension fund.

Upset with Michigan State University's handling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, Leonard became the first public official to call for the resignation of then-MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon.

Leonard faced immediate backlash for the decision from political opponents.

However, after another month and a half of embarrassing information becoming public, the full state House voted 96–11 in favor of a resolution demanding the president's resignation.

Simon resigned hours later.

Leonard then called for the school's board of trustees to resign, allowing the governor to appoint replacements.

Inaction on forcing changes from President Simon and controversial and dismissive statements toward the victims of abuse from members of the Board drove the decision.

Citing frustration from the victims at the lack of disclosure from Michigan State University and a need to find points of failure to inform the policy-making process, Leonard directed two of his committee chairs to launch a legislative inquiry into the situation.

In January 2018, those committee chairs requested several previously unavailable records from the school.