Tim Penny

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Tim Penny holding his granddaughter while giving a speech.

Timothy J. "Tim" Penny (born November 19, 1951), is an American politician from Minnesota. Penny was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 – 1995, representing Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the 98th, 99th, 100th, 101st, 102nd, and 103rd congresses. In 1993, he announced that he would not seek a seventh term.

Penny was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and was educated at Winona State University, receiving a bachelor's degree in political science in 1974. He was a member of the Minnesota State Senate from 1976 – 1982.

In 2000, Penny briefly considered running for Senate as a Democrat. Jesse Ventura unsuccessfully tried to recruit him to run on the Reform Party ticket. Ventura later left the Reform Party for the Independence Party, where he recruited Penny to run as his replacement.

Penny's unsuccessful 2002 run for governor of Minnesota as the Independence Party candidate received 16% of the vote, despite polls indicating a dead heat between him, DFL candidate Roger Moe, and Republican candidate Tim Pawlenty less than a month before the election. His running mate for the election was state senator Martha Robertson of Minnetonka, a moderate Republican.

Penny is currently a professor at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute. He lives in Waseca, Minnesota and has four children.

He is the co-author of Payment Due, Common Cents: A Retiring Six-Term Congressman Reveals How Congress Really Works—And What We Must Do to Fix It, and The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics.