Thom van Campen | |
|---|---|
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| Assumed office 31 March 2021 | |
| Member of themunicipal council ofZwolle | |
| In office 14 March 2011 – 19 April 2021 | |
| Preceded by | René de Heer |
| Succeeded by | Sharareh Azimi Nober |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anthony Albertus Hermance van Campen[1] (1990-01-18)18 January 1990 (age 35) Doetinchem, Netherlands |
| Political party | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy |
| Alma mater | |
Anthony Albertus Hermance "Thom"van Campen (born 18 January 1990) is a Dutch politician who has served as a member of theHouse of Representatives since2021. A member of the conservative-liberalPeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), he previously held a seat in theZwolle municipal council (2011–2021) and worked as apolitical assistant.
Van Campen was born in 1990 inDoetinchem, a city in theAchterhoek, as the son of an education director and an entrepreneur. He has an older and a younger sister.[2] He attended the Doetinchem secondary school Ulenhofcollege athavo level between 2002 and 2007.[3] Van Campen studied journalism at theWindesheim University of Applied Sciences inZwolle, graduating in 2012; he subsequently studied international relations (MSc) at theVrije Universiteit Amsterdam.[4] Back then, he also served as chief editor of the faculty magazineEssay.[2]
Van Campen became an intern of VVD member of the House of RepresentativesMalik Azmani in 2014 before he worked as the personal assistant of fellow party memberBetty de Boer, whose specialisations in the House of Representatives included railways, between May 2015 and December 2016.[2] Thereafter, Van Campen started working as a strategic adviser atProRail's public affairs department.[2][5] He left ProRail in October 2017 to take a job as political adviser ofTamara van Ark, State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment.[5] Van Campen kept working for Van Ark when she became Minister for Medical Care in July 2020.[2]
Van Campen became a member of the VVD in 2008 and first appeared on the ballot, aged twenty, in the2010 municipal elections as the VVD's seventh candidate inZwolle.[6][7] He was not elected, but the VVD did appoint him to the positionduoraadslid.[8] He succeeded VVD councilor René de Heer in March 2011, when he became analderman, making Van Campen the youngest member of the Zwolle municipal council. He left his internship at theNederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) inBrussels after one month because of his appointment. Van Campen's specialization in the council was culture policy.[9]
He was re-elected in the2014 municipal elections, in which he appeared fifth on the VVD'sparty list.[10] In 2016, a proposal by Van Campen and a D66 councilor passed the municipal council for an experiment that allowed bars in Zwolle to be open the entire night.[11] It eventually led to those rules becoming permanent in 2018.[12] Van Campen became the VVD's caucus leader in August 2016 and was re-elected as his party'slead candidate – the youngest in the Zwolle VVD's history – in the2018 municipal elections.[6][13]
Van Campen ran for member of parliament in the2021 general election, being placed sixteenth on the VVD's party list. He received 2,821preference votes and was sworn in as House member on 31 March.[14] Van Campen vacated his seat in the Zwolle municipal council the following month.[15] In the House, he is the VVD's spokesperson for agriculture, food quality, the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA),reactive nitrogen, and health care prevention.[16]
Van Campen was one of thelijstduwers of the VVD in Zwolle in the2022 municipal election.[17] In the House, he proposed that same year to force the permanent closing of slaughterhouses after multiple violations of animal welfare regulations.[18] As agricultural spokesperson, Van Campen was also involved in discussions about reactive nitrogen emissions, which thecoalition consisting of the VVD had agreed to significantly reduce to improve the quality of nature reserves following a decision by theCouncil of State. During a party congress, members passed a motion with 51% of the vote to call on the VVD's House caucus to adjust cabinet plans to achieve these goals out of fear that they would harm the livability of rural areas. Van Campen had advised against the motion, disagreeing with its assumption that outdated techniques were being used to calculate emissions.[19] In June 2022, counter-terrorism unitNCTV recommended Van Campen and several other members of parliament to stay away from afarmers' protest inStroe due to safety concerns. Van Campen subsequently criticized House members who did attend, saying that a unified reaction from politicians to these threats would have been more comradely.[20]
Van Campen served as the VVD's vice caucus leader during the maternity leave ofBente Becker.[21] Following the2023 general election, Van Campen kept agriculture in his portfolio while Europe was added to it.[22]
Van Campen lives inZwolle and has a boyfriend.[2][4][23] He was raised in aReformed Protestant family. Aged 17, he made his profession of faith in theProtestant Church in the Netherlands, and he has remained a member.[24]
 |
| Year | Body | Party | Pos. | Votes | Result | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party seats | Individual | |||||||
| 2021 | House of Representatives | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 16 | 2,821 | 34 | Won | [25] | |
| 2023 | House of Representatives | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 14 | 2,879 | 24 | Won | [26] | |
