Rick Nolan

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.

Richard Michael Nolan (born December 17, 1943) is an American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. representative from MN's 8th congressional district from 2013 to 2019.

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.

In 1968, he campaigned for presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy.

Nolan was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1968 and served two terms (1969-1973), representing House District 53A (Morrison County).

His uncle Martin J. McGowan Jr. also served in the Minnesota Legislature.

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.

He previously served as the U.S. representative from MN's 6th congressional district between 1975 and 1981 and was also a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1969 until 1973.

In 1979, he broke with his party in endorsing Senator Ted Kennedy for president over the sitting Democratic President Jimmy Carter.

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.

The National Journal reported that "his Republican foes criticized his $70,000 salary, which they considered high for a civil servant at the time, and the budget deficits the company ran up."

He has also served as chairman of the Mission Township 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.

His daughter and son-in-law now own and operate the enterprise.

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 announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives on July 12, 2011, challenging incumbent Chip Cravaack in Minnesota's 8th congressional district.

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.

He won the Democratic primary in August 2012, defeating Tarryl Clark and Jeff Anderson.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent about $2 million on his campaign, and the liberal House Majority PAC spent another $1.5 million.

Nolan defeated Cravaack, 191,976 to 160,520, to return to Congress after a 32-year absence.

Nolan was re-elected in 2014 and 2016.

Nolan ran for re-election in 2014.

The Democratic primary took place on August 12, 2014 and the general election on November 4, 2014.

He was challenged by Republican nominee Stewart Mills III.

According to Politico, Nolan was a vulnerable Democrat in a competitive congressional district.

He was targeted by Americans for Prosperity over his support of the Affordable Care Act.

He was successful in his close re-election bid, defeating Mills 129,090 to 125,358.

Nolan faced Mills in a rematch and narrowly defeated him again, by 179,097 votes to 177,088.

Nolan greatly outran the top of the Democratic ticket, as Hillary Clinton became the first Democratic presidential nominee to lose the 8th district since before the Great Depression.

Republican Donald Trump won the 8th district by a margin of 16%, but despite this, Nolan managed to survive and win re-election.

Nolan has said that he supports the Second Amendment but believes there should be some restrictions on gun ownership.

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.