Rick Nolan

American politician (born 1943)
the Congressman

Richard Michael Nolan (born December 17, 1943) is an American politician and businessman who served as the U. S. representative from from 2013 to 2019. He previously served as the U. S. representative from between 1975 and 1981 and was also a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1969 until 1973. After re entering politics in 2011, he was nominated to challenge first term incumbent Republican Chip Cravaack in the 8th district, defeating him on November 6, 2012. Nolan was re elected in 2014 and 2016. Nolan's 32 year gap between terms in Congress is the second longest such break in service (after Philip Francis Thomas's 34 year gap from 1841–1875) in American political history. On February 9, 2018, Nolan announced he would retire from Congress at the end of his current term. Nolan ran for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota as the running mate of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson in the 2018 gubernatorial election. They were defeated in the August primary by Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan.

Nolan was born in Brainerd, Minnesota, and graduated from Brainerd High School in 1962. His aunt was an attorney and judge, whom Nolan called his "biggest political influence growing up." He attended St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, the following year, and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota, earning his B. A. in 1966. He was enrolled in the Army ROTC program for 2 years, from fall of 62, to spring of 64. Though he never completed ROTC and never served in the Army, he falsely claimed on two occasions to have previously served in the US Army Reserve. Nolan pursued postgraduate work in public administration and policy formation at the University of Maryland, College Park, and in education at St. Cloud State University.

Early in his career he served as a staff assistant to Walter Mondale in the United States Senate, and was a teacher of social studies in Royalton, Minnesota. He then ran unsuccessfully for Minnesota's 6th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives in 1972, but was elected in his second run in 1974 to the 94th Congress and reelected to the 95th and the 96th. In 1979, he broke with his party in endorsing Senator Ted Kennedy for president over the sitting Democratic President Jimmy Carter. In 2007, he endorsed Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd in his campaign for President of the United States, and traveled the state of Iowa campaigning on his behalf.

Nolan decided not to run for reelection in 1980, and served as president of the U. S. Export Corporation until 1986, and was later appointed to and became president of the Minnesota World Trade Center, a private public initiative, by then Democratic Party chairman Governor Rudy Perpich from 1987 to 1994. Planning Committee, president and board member of the Central Lakes College foundation, to which he helped direct federal funding. Nolan is the former owner of Emily Wood Products, a small sawmill and pallet factory in the northern Minnesota community of Emily.

Nolan has said that he supports the Second Amendment but believes there should be some restrictions on gun ownership. In January 2013, Rick Nolan called the assault weapon ban, which expired in 2004, common sense legislation, saying he didn't need an assault weapon to kill a duck.

Nolan has voiced opposition to the proposed route of the Enbridge Sandpiper pipeline, saying it poses environmental risks to vulnerable wetlands and drinking water in northern Minnesota. Nolan voted against an amendment requiring a study of the vulnerabilities of the Keystone XL pipeline to a terrorist attack and certification that necessary protections have been put in place. Nolan supported increased federal investment in the mining industry, including a "$250 million a year research center that would look at newer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly ways of extracting resources from the region." He also advocates speeding up the environmental review process for mining companies.

During a debate in 2012, Nolan said that taxes should be raised and that provisions in the tax code that encourage offshoring should be eliminated. Nolan also said that the "super rich" in particular should be targeted for tax increases. Nolan has voiced support for the stimulus spending championed by President Obama. He said, "It did in fact create good jobs in a whole wide range of areas, not the least of which is in the field of transportation." On October 1, 2013, Nolan introduced a bill that would withhold the pay of members of Congress during a government shutdown, in response to the shutdown that had gone into effect that morning. "It's time for Congress to start living in the real world where you either do your job, or you don't get paid," he said concerning the bill.

In June 2014, Nolan and Republican David McKinley introduced the Health Care Fairness and Flexibility Act, which would delay an Affordable Care Act fee on every person covered by large self insured employers and insurance companies. According to the Duluth News Tribune, "The effort marks a rare bit of bipartisan cooperation in Washington when it comes to legislation, especially regarding the president's signature law." Nolan supported the Affordable Care Act and said he would not vote to repeal it. Nolan said, "It ensures that another 30 million people in this country would have health insurance; it provides that nobody can be denied as a result of preconditions; it provides that parents can keep their children insured up to the age of 26." Nolan is a strong supporter of single payer health care and believes it should be the ultimate goal of the Affordable Care Act.

Nolan was one of four members of Congress to vote against the 2014 Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. The bill allocates $73.3 billion to veterans programs and military construction projects, "$1.4 billion more than what Congress budgeted last year." In a statement, Nolan said, "I voted against the bill in protest, because it under funds veterans health and benefit programs, while shoveling billions of new dollars into unnecessary new military construction in places all around the world where American presence and American resources do not belong." In 2014, Nolan urged President Obama to resist further military intervention in both Syria and Iraq. Nolan visited Cuba along with President Barack Obama in March 2016. It was a return trip for Nolan, who had first been to Cuba in 1977.

Nolan voted against the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which prohibits abortions after 20 weeks.

Nolan supports campaign finance reform. In February 2013, Nolan introduced a constitutional amendment designed to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case that dealt with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations. In 2015, Nolan joined Democratic U. S. Representatives Keith Ellison, Mark Pocan, Matt Cartwright, Jared Huffman and Raúl Grijalva as co sponsors of legislation calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the U. S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision.

Nolan sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and four of its Subcommittees: Highways and Transit; Aviation; Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management; and Water Resources and the Environment. He also serves on the House Agriculture Committee and two of its Subcommittees: Conservation, Energy and Forestry, and Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit. in the 94th, 95th and 96th Congresses. Instead, Nolan will now have Committee Seniority on only the House Agriculture Committee and be a junior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Nolan had been quoted as saying he would like to serve on "the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, along with the Natural Resources Committee, which hears legislation that directly affects the mining, forestry, agriculture and tourism based economy of the Eighth Congressional District." Nolan and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar were the original co sponsors of legislation called the Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013, a bill that would modernize small aircraft regulations and the FAA's Part 23 certification process. Nolan endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic U. S. presidential primary election. He was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Climate Solutions Caucus, the Congressional Arts Caucus, and the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus. Nolan's former legislative director, Jim Swiderski, was alleged to have sexually harassed female congressional aides. Nolan's chief of staff, Jodie Torkelson, investigated the situation, found cause, and Swiderski accepted the option of resignation in 2015. In 2016, Swiderski, who now lives in China, was rehired in a remote role as a campaign aide. Nolan once again acceded to the counsel of senior staff and terminated that relationship as well. Rep. Nolan was asked to resign his seat from several male elected officials in his district most notably State Senator Erik Simonson and Duluth City Council President Noah Hobbs

In 2018, Lori Swanson declared her candidacy for governor, and selected Nolan as her running mate. In the August primary, Swanson and Nolan were defeated by the ticket of Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan.

Nolan was divorced from his first wife and is married to Mary Nolan. He has four children. His daughter, Katherine Nolan Bensen, died on September 15, 2020, at the age of 46, after a five year battle with small cell carcinoma.