U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla., announced on Monday that he would not seek a fourth term in Congress.
First elected in 2010 after his service as sheriff of Hernando County, Nugent said he wanted to spend more time with his 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,” Nugent said on Monday. "As I remarked to a colleague during one of my first months in Congress, ‘It feels like I’ve spent more time away from my wife in the last three weeks than I have in the last thirty years.’ Sensing how unhappy I was about it, my colleague tried to assure me that it would get easier with time. In reality, the opposite was true.”
During his five years in Congress, Nugent kept a low profile though he did make a splash at the start of the year when he voted for U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., over then-U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to lead the Republican caucus. In retaliation, Boehner threw Webster and Nugent off the powerful Rules Committee, the body which selects which bills get to the House floor.
Nugent has kept the seat easily for Republicans in the last two election cycles. Currently the seat starts in Ocala and heads southwest to the Gulf shore, stopping in Spring Hill. The seat is solidly Republican though it could be altered as the state judicial branch continues to grapple with legislative redistricting.
In the last decade and a half, Nugent has proven a winner in the polls. He had a narrow win in 2000 to first win the post of Hernando County sheriff but easily kept the job, winning big in 2004 and 2008. When U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown Waite, R-Fla., suddenly announced her retirement due to health reasons in 2010, she backed Nugent who replaced her in Congress.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
