Thomas Evert Petri (born May 28, 1940) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 6th congressional district from 1979 to 2015; he is a member of the Republican Party.

When he was a toddler, his father, a Navy flyer and lieutenant during World War II, was lost during a mission over the Atlantic.

He represented his high school as a delegate to the youth government and leadership program Badger Boys State in 1957.

[citation needed] He graduated from Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac.

He was one of the founders of the Ripon Society, a public policy organization aligned with the Republican Party.

[9] Petri was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem-cell research, although he generally opposes abortion.

[27][better source needed] On November 2, 2005, Petri voted against the Online Freedom of Speech Act.

[28] On January 18, 2007 Petri voted in favor of HR 6, which made it more difficult to obtain a lease to drill for oil domestically.

[31] He had received $14,751 in campaign donations from executives of Lake Michigan Carferry,[32][33] the owner of Badger Ferry.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Badger Ferry came to agreement in 2013 to modifying coal-dumping procedures within two years.

[34] On August 1, 2011, Petri voted for the Budget Control Act of 2011, which raised the nation's debt limit and created the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

[35] Petri headed the Congressional British-American Parliamentary Exchange Group, which coordinated annual meetings between members of Congress and Parliament.

[49] In 2015, Petri was made an honorary officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work on trans-Atlantic issues.