William Thomas Sali (born February 17, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a congressman from Idaho.

Sali was the first Idaho congressman to fail to win a second term in 56 years, since Republican John Travers Wood was defeated in 1952.

Sali worked full-time for over four years, then returned to the renamed Boise State University in 1979, and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1981 at age 29.

There, he gained a reputation as a staunch conservative on social and economic issues, frequently drawing the ire of the more moderate Republican house leadership.

[3] On May 23, 2006, Sali won the Republican nomination in Idaho's 1st congressional district with 26 percent of the vote in a six-way race.

[4] The seat came open when three-term incumbent Butch Otter gave it up to make a successful run for governor.

Vice President Dick Cheney, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, and then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert all came to Idaho to support Sali, and his campaign received substantial financial backing from the Club for Growth, the Republican National Committee, and the National Right to Life PAC.

Minnick defeated Sali 51% to 49%, becoming the first Democrat to win a congressional election in Idaho in 16 years (Larry LaRocco was reelected in 1992).

We all wish that victory in Iraq had been swift, clear-cut and definitive and that a stable and free government would have been operating in Baghdad, able to stand on its own.

[16] In July 2007, Sali introduced legislation allowing for separate votes on bills that contain multiple subjects.

That bill called for Congress to make available a "red-line" version of legislation so that congressional representatives and the general public can easily see what is being added and removed from a statute.

[17] Sali told the Spokane, WA based Spokesman Review newspaper that there are other areas in Congress that need to be reformed.

[19][20] Such views, which refer to a supposed abortion – breast cancer hypothesis, are consistent with Sali's anti-abortion viewpoint.

In August 2007, Sali expressed concerns over what he perceived as a deterioration of the "Christian heritage" of the United States and the rise of multiculturalism in U.S. politics—largely with reference to the 2006 election of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and to the Hindu prayer offered by Rajan Zed during the opening of the U.S. Senate on July 12, 2007.

[21] Speaking with the Idaho Press-Tribune, Sali explained his view that multiculturalism is in conflict with the national motto "E Pluribus Unum," or "out of many, one."