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{{short description|American politician (born 1949)|bot=PearBOT 5}}{{BLP sources|date=November 2025}}{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Greg Ganske
| image               = Greg Ganske's Official Portrait.jpg
| state               = [[Iowa]]
| district            = {{ushr|IA|4|4th}}
| term_start          = January 3, 1995
| term_end            = January 3, 2003
| predecessor         = [[Neal Smith (politician)|Neal Smith]]
| successor           = [[Steve King]]
| birth_name          = John Greg Ganske
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1949|3|31}}
| birth_place         = [[New Hampton, Iowa|New Hampton]], [[Iowa]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| education           = [[University of Iowa]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]])
| signature           = Greg Ganske Signature.gif
}}
'''John Greg Ganske''' (born March 31, 1949) is an American [[politician]], plastic surgeon, and retired U.S. Army reserve lieutenant colonel from [[Iowa]]. He served as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1995 to 2003 and was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Iowa in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GANSKE, Greg |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/G000041 |access-date=2025-11-20 |website=Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Ganske was born in [[New Hampton, Iowa]] to parents Victor and Mary Jo Ganske.  He earned honors in wrestling in high school, and was an American Field Service exchange student to Costa Rica in 1966.

He graduated from the [[University of Iowa]] with a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.with honors]] in political science and general science in 1972. In 1976, Ganske graduated from the [[Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine|University of Iowa School of Medicine]], and subsequently completed a general surgery residency in 1982 at the Oregon Health Sciences Center and a plastic and reconstructive surgery residency at Harvard in 1984, training under Nobel Laureate Dr. Joe Murray.

== Career ==
[[File:Health care 63058u (cropped1).jpg|thumb|left|Ganske at a news conference about the [[Patients' rights]] with President [[Bill Clinton]] and [[Dick Gephardt]] in July 1998.]]
[[File:President George W. Bush with Greg Ganske, Jim Leach, and Tom Latham.jpg|thumb|left|Ganske with President [[George W. Bush]], [[Tom Latham (politician)|Tom Latham]], and [[Jim Leach]] in February 2001.]]
Ganske worked as a plastic surgeon in [[Des Moines]] until he challenged veteran Democratic Congressman [[Neal Smith (politician)|Neal Smith]] in 1994. Ganske campaigned in a cream 1958 [[DeSoto (automobile)|DeSoto]] (Smith having won his first congressional race in that year), playing songs from that era. Ganske was also helped by the 1990s round of redistricting. Smith had previously represented a district that was more or less coextensive with the Des Moines metropolitan area, but redistricting had pushed it into southwestern Iowa, an area Smith did not know and that did not know him. In one of the biggest upsets in recent congressional history, Ganske defeated Smith by six points, largely by running up large margins in southwestern Iowa.

Ganske was nearly defeated for reelection in 1996, but was reelected with little difficulty in 1998 and 2000. He was considered a relatively moderate Republican, which played well in a district dominated by traditionally-Democratic Des Moines.

After the 2000 round of redistricting, much of the 4th district was shifted into the 5th district, which created a district that covered all of western Iowa. However, Ganske's home city of Des Moines was drawn into the 3rd district, represented by Democrat [[Leonard Boswell]]. Rather than running for reelection, Ganske ran for the [[United States Senate]] against incumbent Democrat [[Tom Harkin]]. He easily won the Republican nomination, but lost to Harkin by 10 points. Following that election, he resumed his practice in Des Moines.

== Personal life ==
During medical school, Ganske met and married his wife, Corrine Mikkelson.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{CongBio|G000041}}
* {{C-SPAN|36607}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Neal Smith (politician)|Neal Smith]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Iowa|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Iowa's 4th congressional district]]|years=1995–2003}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Tom Latham (politician)|Tom Latham]]}}
|-
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Jim Ross Lightfoot]]}}
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[List of United States senators from Iowa|U.S. Senator]] from [[Iowa]]}}<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 2]])|years=[[2002 United States Senate election in Iowa|2002]]}}
{{s-aft|after=Christopher Reed}}
|-
{{s-prec|usa}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Fred Grandy]]|as=Former U.S. Representative}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States order of precedence|Order of precedence of the United States]]<br>''{{small|as Former U.S. Representative}}''|years=}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bruce Braley]]|as=Former U.S. Representative}}
{{S-end}}

{{IARepresentatives}}
{{USCongRep-start |congresses=104th–107th [[United States Congress]]es |state=[[United States congressional delegations from Iowa|Iowa]]}}
{{USCongRep/IA/104}}
{{USCongRep/IA/105}}
{{USCongRep/IA/106}}
{{USCongRep/IA/107}}
{{USCongRep-end}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganske, Greg}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American surgeons]]
[[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]
[[Category:21st-century American surgeons]]
[[Category:American plastic surgeons]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 2002 United States elections]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from New Hampton, Iowa]]
[[Category:Physicians from Iowa]]
[[Category:Politicians from Des Moines, Iowa]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa]]
[[Category:University of Iowa alumni]]