text: On July 19, 2016, The Washington Post reported that Vilsack was on Hillary Clinton's two-person shortlist to be her running mate for that year's presidential election. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia was ultimately selected. On December 10, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Vilsack to once again serve as secretary of agriculture in the incoming Biden administration. Vilsack was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 23, 2021, by a vote of 92–7. Currently Vilsack is the second longest serving Secretary of Agriculture, only being surpassed by fellow Iowan James "Tama Jim" Wilson.
  Early life and education
  Vilsack was born on December 13, 1950, in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his 23-year-old birth mother (a secretary) had lived since September 1950 under the pseudonym of "Gloria"; he was baptized as "Kenneth". He was adopted in 1951 by Bud, a real-estate agent and insurance salesman, and Dolly Vilsack. They named him Thomas James.
  Vilsack attended Shady Side Academy, a preparatory high school in Pittsburgh. He received a bachelor's degree in 1972 from Hamilton College. While at Hamilton, he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He received a Juris Doctor from Albany Law School in 1975.
  Early political career, Iowa Senate
  Vilsack moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa after marriage. Vilsack raised funds to rebuild an athletic facility for young people; in a 2016 interview, he describes himself "as the Jerry Lewis of Mount Pleasant for a couple days" when he hosted a pledge drive on the local radio station to raise the funds. This led him to involvement in the local Chamber of Commerce and United Way. He and his wife volunteered in the failed 1988 presidential campaign of then senator Joe Biden.