Trey Radel

Trey Radel
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 19th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Connie Mack IV
Personal details
Born	Henry Jude Radel III (1976-04-20) April 20, 1976 Cincinnati, Ohio
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Amy Wegmann Radel
Children	Henry Jude Radel IV
Residence	Fort Myers, Florida
Occupation	Radio host/television personality, reporter, businessman
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	Representative Trey Radel

Henry Jude "Trey" Radel III (born April 20, 1976) is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Florida's 19th congressional district, since 2013. Radel, a Republican, has worked as a television reporter, anchor, conservative radio host, and businessman. His district is located in southwest Florida and includes Fort Myers, Naples and Cape Coral.

Early life and education

He majored in communications and minored in Italian at Loyola University Chicago.

Journalist career

Radel was trained as an actor and a comedian and performed improvisational work at Second City in Chicago. Radel began his working career as a journalist, working as both an anchor and as a reporter. He interned for CNN at their Headquarters in Atlanta. He then worked for the CBS affiliates in Houston and Chicago. He was a TV and radio talk show host of Daybreak, on WINK-TV & 92.5 Fox News Radio.

He bought the Naples Journal, a community newspaper in Naples, Collier County, Florida, which he subsequently reformatted and expanded, later selling the paper to the Daily News.^{[citation needed]} He founded Trey Communications LLC, a conservative media relations firm. The company purchased and sold domain names, including some of a pornographic nature.

He and his wife founded a nonprofit organization called the U.S. Forces Fund, which focuses on helping injured soldiers returning home from abroad.

U.S. House of Representatives

2012 congressional election

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2012#District 19

Republican 14th District Congressman Connie Mack IV decided not to run for reelection to his seat, in order to challenge Democrat U.S. Senator Bill Nelson. Radel decided to run in the open seat, which had been renumbered as the 19th District. Five other Republican candidates also filed to run. Controversy occurred when it was discovered that the campaign committee "Friends of Trey Radel, Inc." had purchased his opponents' domain names nearly a year before he announced he was going to run for office. When this was revealed, he denied knowing about it, blaming it on staff, but eventually admitted he had purchased the domain names. Subsequently, his campaign committee created websites and attached them to his opponents' domain names, purportedly for the purpose of disseminating the voting records of the opponents, which were posted on the websites. Radel's political philosophy is conservative, but he nevertheless has said he supports the principles of the DREAM Act. Radel was endorsed by the incumbent Connie Mack IV, former U.S. Senator Connie Mack III, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Chauncey Goss (who finished second to Radel in the primary) was endorsed by U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan. He won the primary with 30% of the vote, primarily due to the strength of his showing in his native Lee County.

In the general election he faced Democrat Jim Roach of Cape Coral, a retired GM research engineer and decorated Vietnam combat veteran. However, Radel was heavily favored to win. The 19th has long been reckoned as one of the most Republican districts in Florida, and as such the Republican primary was considered the real contest for the election. In 2008, Republican presidential nominee John McCain won the district with 57% of the vote. In 2010, Rick Scott won the district with 61% of the vote. Radel did indeed win the 2012 election, with 63% of the vote. The Naples Daily News reported that the financial disclosure reports Radel submitted during his campaign were inaccurate and that once he was elected he amended these reports. According to Radel's attorney he underreported his assets by failing to note his trust funds.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
  • Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Aviation
  • Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials

Personal life

He is married to FOX-4 anchor Amy Wegmann. They have one child, and live in Fort Myers. Radel can speak English, Italian and Spanish.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Representative Trey Radel
• Trey Radel for Congress official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Biography at Ballotpedia
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Voting record at The Washington Post
• Henry J Radel III, AP Election Guide, Associated Press
• Candidate profile at The Wall Street Journal

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Connie Mack IV	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 19th congressional district January 3, 2013 – present	Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Mark Pocan D-Wisconsin	United States Representatives by seniority 414th	Succeeded by Tom Rice R-South Carolina