Rich Nugent

Early life, education, and early law enforcement career

Nugent was born on May 26, 1951. He is a native of Evergreen Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His father was a steel worker and his mother was a homemaker.

After high school Nugent joined the Illinois Air National Guard for six years. He then continued serving as a police officer in the city of Romeoville, Illinois. After serving as a police officer in Romeoville for 12 years, Nugent and his family moved to Hernando County, Florida in 1984, where he joined the Hernando County Sheriff's office as a deputy.

Nugent graduated from St. Leo College, located in St. Leo, Pasco County, Florida with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. He went on to earn a Master of Arts Degree from Troy State University. In 1991 Congressman Nugent graduated from the FBI National Academy.

Sheriff of Hernando County

Nugent was elected Sheriff of Hernando County in 2000, defeating James E. "Eddie" McConnell.

Election results

He was re-elected Sheriff in 2004 and 2008.

2010 election

Republican Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite decided not to run for re-election in the 5th Congressional District of Florida, due to health concerns. She asked Nugent to run for her seat. Nugent won the Republican primary and was endorsed during his campaign by former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, and by several Florida newspapers, including the Orlando Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times, and the Tampa Tribune.

Nugent beat Tea Party favorite Jason Sager in the primary and won against Democrat Jim Piccillo in the general election. The New York Times had rated this race as solidly Republican. The Ocala online newspaper reported that In the 5th Congressional District, Nugent swept past Democrat Jim Piccillo, a political newcomer from Lutz, receiving 67 percent of the vote to 33 percent.

Tenure

In his first two months in Congress he co-sponsored 29 pieces of legislation, including H.R. 2 – Repeal of the Health Care Law Act, H.R.25 – The Fair Tax Act of 2011, H.R. 49 – American Energy Independence and Price Reduction Act, H.R. 121 – Congressional Budget Accountability Act, H.R. 127 – to deauthorize appropriation of funds to carry out the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, H.R. 144 – Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011, H.R. 154 – Defund the Individual Mandate Act, Hr. 177 – Death Tax Repeal Act, H.R. 178 – Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act, H.R. 333 – Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act and H.R. 42` – To eliminate automatic pay adjustments for Members of Congress. Nugent has also co-sponsored H.J. Res.1 – Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Nugent is against what he terms out of control spending presently happening in Washington. He opposed the $700 billion bailout by President George W. Bush, a temporary fix for de-regulation of the banking and finance industries, two unfunded Bush-era wars, and a decades-long wage decrease. He also opposed the Obama Administration's $862 billion stimulus package.

Nugent signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 25, better known as "The Fair Tax". This legislation introduced by Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA) would abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), repeal the federal income tax, and replace it with a transparent tax on consumption.

In 2010 Nugent signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any Global Warming legislation that would raise taxes.

Nugent opposed the passage of President Barack Obama's health care legislation and has vowed to work for its repeal. He has stated that he is open to listening to anybody's plan to save and reform Medicare so long as benefits are completely unchanged for those 55 and up.

Committee assignments

Nugent serves on the Committee on House Administration. Nugent formerly served on the House Committee on Rules . In January 2015, Nugent was removed from that committee, in an apparent retribution for voting against John Boehner as House Speaker.

Nugent belongs to several House caucus groups, including the Congressional Sportsman's Caucus, The Constitution Caucus, The Military Family Caucus, the Congressional Cement Caucus, and the Tea Party Caucus.

Personal life

In 1975, Rich married Wendy Nugent and they have three boys. The Nugent family have been members of the First United Methodist Church of Spring Hill since 1985.

On November 2, 2015, Nugent announced that he would leave Congress at the end of his term on January 3, 2017. Among the reasons given for leaving office, Nugent cited a desire to spend more time with family: “After five years of living out of a suitcase, saying goodbye almost weekly to my beloved wife, and seeing pictures of the grandkids instead of spending more of that quality time with them, the tug of being apart from family has just become too great."