Nicknames - Currently: "The Hammer" and "The Exterminator"; Formerly: "Hot Tub Tom"

Thomas Dale DeLay (born April 8, 1947) in Laredo, Texas is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented Sugar Land, Texas from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican House Majority Leader from 2003–2005, when his legal problems forced him to step down. In 2005, a Texas court charged DeLay with criminal violations of state campaign finance laws and money laundering. DeLay pled not guilty, claiming political motivation for the charges. As of October 2009, the prosecutor has yet to bring the case before a jury. Two former senior aides to DeLay have been convicted in the Jack Abramoff scandal, and though the infamous lobbyist was closely associated with DeLay, the former congressman himself has not been legally implicated at this time.

Before entering politics, DeLay worked in pest control, which explains the reason behind one of his nicknames, "The Exterminator." He began his long and successful career as a politician in 1978 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. Until 1985, when DeLay became a born-again Christian and changed his lifestyle, another of his nicknames was "Hot Tub Tom" because of his drinking and partying ways. In 1988, after just a few years in the U.S. House, DeLay was appointed Deputy Minority Whip, and he was elected House Majority Whip in 1995 after helping Newt Gingrich lead the so-called Republican Revolution, which swept Democrats from power in Congress, including control of the House for the first time in forty years.