Following an Oct. 10 speech, Hillsdale students crowded around an energetic alumnus with a strong message to young people who are interested in politics: step up and lead.
Tom Morrison’s amiable confidence and down-to-earth grassroots tactics won over Illinois voters in the past two election cycles. However, the popular state representative’s journey to his home state’s General Assembly has been anything but typical.
“In college, I hated interviewing politicians because I’d get this answer that was all over the place—and now I am one,” Morrison said with a wry smile while adjusting his red tie.
Morrison, the third of four brothers, grew up in Glenview, a suburban community 18 miles north of Chicago. Drawn by the conservative principles of his role model, former President Ronald Reagan, he left northern Illinois to attend Hillsdale College.
“When I first got to Hillsdale, I wanted to be the next Paul Harvey,” Morrison said, referring to the late conservative radio show host. “He was heard by more listeners than Rush Limbaugh has.”
Determined to break into the radio industry, Morrison applied for a position at WSCR, a local station, before his first week of classes had finished. He landed it and worked more than 20 hours a week for the rest of his college education.
“I don’t really recommend it. I wish I would have spent more time really studying issues in depth and talking to people on campus about them,” Morrison said.
After graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, Morrison worked as a news anchor in Iowa for a short period of time but decided life in front of the camera wasn’t for him. He moved back to Illinois and began teaching 5th graders at Christian Liberty Academy, where he started a pro-life group for older students.
“We went on a field trip to the state capitol building,” Morrison said, “I had never even been there before. A pro-life lobbyist approached me and said ‘you need to run for office.’ I laughed and shook my head, thinking ‘no one’s going to vote for me. It sounded crazy at the time, but it certainly planted a seed.”
Six years after his first visit to the capitol building, Morrison ran a campaign against a six-term Republican incumbent on a shoestring budget to become a state representative. He lived frugally—skipping out on Starbucks, nice clothes, and movie nights— to scrape together the funds to run a basic campaign.
“After teaching, I started a disaster cleanup business with my brother,” Morwrison said, “So when I finally announced my campaign I already had an unofficial slogan lined up: ‘It’s time to take disaster cleanup down to the state capitol.’ People were sick of sleaze, corruption, and big government. Illinois is like a statewide version of Detroit.”
Morrison went on to win Illinois’ 54th district by an 8-point margin against Republican incumbent Suzanne Bassi. However, the road to red ties and speaking opportunities wasn’t easy.
Morrison recalled standing patiently outside a private residence while door-to-door campaigning. After an awkward period of waiting, the door opened wide enough for a woman to glare at him.
“She said ‘I know who you are,’” Morrison said. “‘You have no business running for office. This is my uterus and you shouldn’t have an opinion about it.’” The woman continued to talk for a solid five minutes about Morrison’s pro-life views.
He did not utter a word for the duration of her rebuke. He nodded and listened. Finally, out of breath, she paused and cocked her head to one side, “You’ve been listening to me.”
Morrison spoke for the first time, smiling gently, “Yes ma’am. I want to be your representative for Springfield.”
The door opened a little wider. She paused and thought for a while.
“I’m voting for you,” she finally cut the silence. Her four words changed Morrison’s campaign strategy for the rest of his political career.
“After that, I sent out scores of thank-you notes,” Morrison said. “If I talked to a voter they’d get a thank you card addressing the specific issue we talked about. A lot of candidates think you have to have the big flashy TV commercials but no it’s just a personal relationship with the people.”
Since taking office in 2010, the conservative’s political views on abortion, marriage, and his state’s high taxes and pension debt crisis have been a source of controversy. Morrison maintains that his political life is anything but glamorous, but exactly where God has called him to be.
“The stories of Chicago-area corruption are all real,” he said. “I’m here to try to clean it up because people are hungry for real change. If you want to run for office to do something and not to be somebody then you can have a real impact on people’s lives.”
In fact, Morrison influenced lives before he even took office.
“He is an honest Christian and a hardworking man who does what he says he’s going to do. He had a profound effect on my life as a little kid,” said Bryan Morey, a Hillsdale sophomore and former student in Morrison’s 5th grade class.
The Hillsdale alumnus plans to run for a third term in the Illinois General Assembly and is generally upbeat about the future of politics in America, an attitude that he cultivated while at college.
“Hillsdale taught me to think critically about the role of government, the nature of liberty, and the responsibility that we have as citizens to participate,” Morrison said, “It’s one thing to complain and it’s a completely different thing to step up and actually do something about it.”
