Earl Thomas “Tom” Coleman is a former Republican member of the House of Representatives and a critic of former President Donald Trump. He represented Missouri from 1976 to 1993. ¹

Coleman is a “Task Force Member” of the National Task Force on Election Crises, an advocacy group which calls for left-of-center-aligned changes to the U.S. election system. ²

Career

Coleman was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1969 began practicing in Kansas City. From 1969 to 1972 he served as a Missouri assistant attorney general from 1969 to 1972. He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1973 and served until 1976. ³

In 1976, Coleman was elected as a Republican to the 94th and 95th Congress in a special election brought about by the death of United States Representative Jerry L. Litton (D-MO). Coleman was reelected to seven Congresses following this but failed to win reelection in 1992. ⁴

After his congressional career, Coleman became vice president of government relations for BASF Corporation, a subsidiary of the German multinational chemical company BASF SE. He worked for law firms as a government affairs specialist, as well as for his own firm. ⁵

Activities and Views

In 2016, Coleman campaigned for then-Ohio Governor John Kasich in his Republican presidential primary run. After Donald Trump won the primary, Coleman opposed him during the general election. ⁶

In 2019, Coleman wrote an article for the Kansas City Star arguing that President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence won their 2016 election in an illegitimate fashion and should therefore be impeached. Coleman based his argument on a reading of the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller that interpreted the report as conclusive proof that the candidates “welcomed Russian interference” to help them win. He encouraged members of Congress to ignore polls that suggested Trump would be aided by a failed impeachment attempt and proceed with an impeachment attempt. ⁷ He wrote:

What if House Democrats decide not to embark on impeachment? If that were the case, I believe the public would conclude Democrats are no better than the Republicans who have enabled Trump for the past two years, putting party above country. It could hand Trump a second term. Failure to pursue impeachment is to condone wrongdoing. To condone wrongdoing is to encourage more of it. To encourage wrongdoing is to give up on the rule of law and our democracy. To give up on the rule of law and democracy invites autocracy and eventually dictatorship. History has taught us this outcome. In my lifetime, it has occurred in other places including the Soviet Union and Germany, as well as in Russia and Venezuela today. ⁸

National Task Force on Election Crises

Coleman is a “Task Force Member” of the National Task Force on Election Crises, a left-of-center advocacy group which calls for “critical preventative reforms” to the U.S. election system. ⁹ The task force holds that President Donald Trump “badly damaged the perception of election legitimacy” and directly caused the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021. It also believes there is a widespread effort to disenfranchise voters, and that election administrators were key players in mitigating “a crisis” during the 2020 election. ¹⁰

Coleman is an advisor to Protect Democracy, a left-of-center nonprofit organization that advocates against “authoritarianism” in America. ¹¹

1. “COLEMAN, Earl Thomas.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/C000618.
2. ^[1] “About.” National Task Force on Election Crises. https://www.electiontaskforce.org/about.
3. “COLEMAN, Earl Thomas.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/C000618.
4.  “COLEMAN, Earl Thomas.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/C000618.
5. “About.” TomColeman.net. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://tomcoleman.net/about/
6. “About.” TomColeman.net. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://tomcoleman.net/about/.
7. Coleman, Tom. “Former GOP Rep. Tom Coleman: Trump, Pence are illegitimate. Impeach them.” The Kansas City Star, 22 May 2019. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20210213034013/https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article230713224.html.
8.  Coleman, Tom. “Former GOP Rep. Tom Coleman: Trump, Pence are illegitimate. Impeach them.” The Kansas City Star, 22 May 2019. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20210213034013/https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article230713224.html.
9. “About.” National Task Force on Election Crises. Accessed 1 May 2022. https://www.electiontaskforce.org/about.
10.  “About.” National Task Force on Election Crises. Accessed 1 May 2022. https://www.electiontaskforce.org/about.
11. “About.” TomColeman.net. Accessed 9 May 2022. https://tomcoleman.net/about/.