Thomas Werdel

Thomas Harold Werdel (September 13, 1905 – September 30, 1966) was a U.S. Representative from California.

Werdel was born in Emery, Hanson County, South Dakota, the son of Mary Laura (Burke) and Bernard Werdel. Werdel moved with his parents to Kern County, California, in 1915. He attended the public schools and Kern County Union High School. He was graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1930 and from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1936. He was admitted to the bar in 1936 and commenced the practice of law in Bakersfield, California. He served as member of the California State Assembly from the thirty-ninth district in the legislative sessions of 1943 and 1945.

Werdel was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses (January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953). In 1952, he hoped to lead a pro-Taft, anti-Warren delegation to the Republican National Convention, but Governor Earl Warren, a favorite son candidate, once again controlled California's votes.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1952 to the Eighty-third Congress. He resumed the practice of law. In 1956, he was the running mate of T. Coleman Andrews as Vice Presidential candidate for the States' Rights Party;. They won 107,929 votes (0.17%), doing best in Virginia, where they won 6.16% of the vote.

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