Tiffany managed the petroleum division of High Plains Cooperative in Plainview, Minnesota, before moving to Minocqua, Wisconsin, to manage Zenker Oil Company's petroleum distribution in 1988. He and his wife, Chris, operated an excursion business, Wilderness Queen Cruise Line, on the Willow Flowage from 1991 to 2006. They moved the business to the Wisconsin River in Rhinelander in 2007 before they sold the business in 2012.
In 2010, Tiffany ran for the 35th district of the Wisconsin State Assembly after the incumbent, Donald Friske, retired. Tiffany won the primary and defeated Democratic nominee Jay Schmelling, 58.09% to 41.81%.
In 2012, Tiffany chose not to seek reelection to the Assembly and instead to run again for the state senate after Holperin announced he would not run for reelection. He defeated the Democratic nominee Susan Sommer, 56% to 40%, in the general election.
In the state senate, Tiffany was the chair of the chair of the Senate Committee on Sporting Heritage, Mining and Forestry and a member of the Joint Finance Committee. He supported mining operations, advocated more logging, and proposed reduced funding for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He also had a role in transferring powers over to the Wisconsin Legislature from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on issues like operating rules for controversial dams in Vilas County. Tiffany was proud to earn the enmity of the Wisconsin chapter of the League of Conservation Voters and called organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama "radical."
U.S. House of Representatives (2020–present)
U.S. representative Sean Duffy resigned on September 23, 2019, after his youngest daughter was diagnosed with a heart condition. Tiffany announced that he would run in a special election to succeed him. He won the February 18, 2020, Republican primary and defeated Wausau attorney Tricia Zunker in the May 12, 2020, special election. Tiffany was sworn in on May 19, 2020.
Tiffany defeated Zunker in a rematch in the November 3, 2020, general election taking in 60.7% of the vote.
In June 2021, Tiffany was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against legislation to establish June 19, or Juneteenth, as a federal holiday.
Tiffany speaking at the 2025 AmericaFest convention
On September 23, 2025, Tiffany announced his campaign for governor of Wisconsin in the 2026 election.
He was endorsed by Donald Trump in January 2026. The next day, his main opponent in the primary dropped out of the race. All of Tiffany's Republican colleagues from Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives have endorsed him. Republican strategists have said this allowed Tiffany to avoid rebuilding the party after the primary, noting that the election is for "only the second open gubernatorial seat in the last 60 years in Wisconsin, and there won't be a primary on the Republican side."
In 2026, Tiffany, while campaigning for governor, commented on the Menomonee Falls high school starting a black students' club, by stating that "Race-based preferences are un-American, illegal, and must end." Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Will Martin, an African-American whose mother, Tanya Martin, helped integrate his school in their Tennessee hometown, commented that student clubs must be open to all without discrimination or exclusion.
In July 2026, Tiffany said most election clerks around Wisconsin do good work, "but there's a couple clerks that have fallen down on the job, and we've got to make sure we have election integrity."
In August 2026, Tiffany proposed to have the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources split, in order to "separate fish, wildlife, hunting, fishing, trapping from the environmental permitting part of it," saying that this would benefit the state's sportsmen.
In September 2026, Tiffany was flying back from a campaign event when the light aircraft he was flying in lost power. The plane made an emergency landing on a lake; as the plane began to take on water, Tiffany and the pilot swam to safety. Tiffany received stitches on his face prior to being released from the hospital.
Tiffany supports ongoing efforts to revisit the 2020 election and has supported previous efforts to overturn it. He has said he would have rejected the 2020 vote for Biden in Wisconsin if it had been up to the legislature, and he supported a Texas lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election in various other states.
Abortion
In September 2025, Tiffany declined to say whether he supported a heartbeat abortion ban such as one he supported during his time in the state legislature. In January 2026, PBS asked him "Would you like to see any changes to Wisconsin's abortion law?" and he answered "No. So, I voted for the current law, which, 10 years ago when I was in the state legislature, which is you can have an abortion up to five months. I voted for that law, and as governor I will uphold it."
Foreign policy
China and Taiwan
Tiffany has expressed support for recognition of Taiwan as an independent state. In 2023, Tiffany authored an op-ed in The Washington Times, stating that "the United States should lead by example and end this tired charade." Since being elected to the House, Tiffany has introduced legislation in every session to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In 2024, Tiffany introduced legislation expressing support for Taiwan's full participation at the World Health Organization, as well as legislation restricting the U.S. Department of State from using funds to enforce restrictions on "high-level communications" with Taiwanese officials. Both pieces of legislation were passed by Congress.
Russo-Ukrainian war
In May 2022, Tiffany "strongly" condemned the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but did not support a bill for almost $40 billion in additional American funding for Ukraine, stating that American taxpayers should not be financing "an open-ended European conflict."
After the October 7 attacks, Tiffany said he firmly supported Israel and would not support a ceasefire until "Hamas has been neutralized by Israel". In 2023, he voted in favor of a Republican-led House bill that would provide $14 billion in aid to Israel.
When asked why he supports foreign aid to Israel but not Ukraine, Tiffany said he trusted Israel to responsibly use aid but he does not feel the same way about Ukraine.
In March 2023, Tiffany was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of House Congressional Resolution 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days. In June, Tiffany was among 71 members who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House. Tiffany has supported some efforts for infrastructure in his district. In September 2023, he joined a bipartisan group of legislators to request a replacement for the Blatnik Bridge connecting Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. The U.S. Department of Transportation under Joe Biden granted $1 billion to this project.
In May 2026, Tiffany voted against an Iran war powers resolution. The resolution was intended to limit the 2026 Iran war, directing President Trump to remove the U.S. military from the conflict, until congressional consent had been obtained. Tiffany said about his vote, "I think most Americans agree that it's reasonable to want things to start winding down in Iran, while also recognizing that it is unreasonable to undermine the president's role as commander-in-chief."
Tariffs
In January 2025, at a listening session in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, Tiffany spoke in approval of tariffs in the second Trump administration, saying that they are "very strategic, very targeted and ultimately they are meant to benefit the American people". In 2025, Tiffany stated "we clearly have not had fair trade here in America."
Personal life
Tiffany and his wife, Christine, have three children. The Tiffanys are Protestant.
↑"Sunday, October 5, 1997". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. October 5, 1997. Tom Tiffany, manager of both the Cedar Falls campground on the north end of the flowage and the Wilderness Queen cruise line, walks through these bountiful acres every morning
