John Nygren (born February 27, 1964) is an American insurance and financial services agent, politician, and lobbyist. A Republican, he was a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

for nearly 14 years, serving from January 2007 to December 2020. He was co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee from 2013 until his sudden resignation on December 1, 2020. He now works as executive director for the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, a state lobbying organization for health insurance companies. Prior to holding public office, he was President of the

United States Junior Chamber The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees, JCs or JCI USA, is a leadership training service organization and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI). ...

youth organization.

Early life and career

Nygren is a fourth generation resident of northeast Wisconsin. He graduated from Marinette High School in 1982, studied at the University of Wisconsin-Marinette, and worked in the restaurant industry for over 12 years, eventually becoming co-owner/operator of his own establishment. In 1998 he started work at Great Lakes Financial Management Group selling

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

and other

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

. Nygren was involved with the Jaycees, serving as Marinette's chapter president, the regional director for Northeast Wisconsin, Wisconsin state president, and United States national president.

Political career

Nygren was chairman of the Marinette County Republican Party and served on the City of Marinette Recreation and Planning Board from 2003 to 2006. In 2006, Nygren ran for

to replace Speaker John Gard, who was vacating his Assembly seat to run for

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. Nygren narrowly won the Republican

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

, defeating former

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Gary Drzewiecki by just 37 votes. Nygren went on to defeat Democrat Randy Koehn in the November general election with 54% of the vote. In the Assembly, he was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

s on

Insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

; on

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

and

Health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

reform; and on Jobs and the

Economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

. Nygren was re-elected seven times, facing a Democratic opponent in six of the seven general elections. After the 2011

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

, Nygren's district became more safely Republican, and he did not receive less than 59% in any election after redistricting.

2011 recall elections

In 2011, a recall campaign was initiated by Democrats, resulting from the upheaval over the Budget Repair bill. Republicans retaliated by launching their own recall effort, targeting Democratic state senators. One of the senators who was successfully pulled into a recall was Democrat Dave Hansen. Nygren, who lived in his district, sought to challenge him in the

recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls ...

. However, the

Wisconsin Government Accountability Board The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.) was a regulatory agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin which administered and enforced Wisconsin law pertaining to campaign finance, elections, ethics, and lobbying. The board was composed of ...

ruled that he was two signatures short of the necessary 400 signatures on his nomination petition, and thus his name would not appear on the ballot.

Resignation

Nygren won a substantial victory in 2020 with 68% of the vote. However, only a month after the election, Nygren announced he would immediately resign his seat.

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Tony Evers Anthony Steven Evers ( ; born November 5, 1951) is an American politician and educator serving since 2019 as the 46th governor of Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 2009 to 2019 as Wisconsin's 26th superintendent of p ...

announced he would call a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to fill the vacancy. On December 14, it was announced that Nygren would work as executive director at the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, a lobbying group for health insurers.

Personal life

Nygren is married to Maggie, a family and

consumer education Consumer education is the preparation of an individual to be capable of making informed decisions when it comes to purchasing products in a consumer culture. It generally covers various consumer goods and services, prices, what the consumer can ...

teacher at Marinette High School, and they have three children; Cassie, Cali and Colin. The Nygren family is active at Faith Lutheran Church. John serves as church elder, and previously spent four years as church president. In January 2020, Nygren's daughter, Cassie, was found guilty of being a party to a first-degree

reckless homicide Reckless homicide is a type of homicide and crime in which the perpetrator was aware that their act (or failure to act when there is a legal duty to act) creates significant risk of death or grievous bodily harm in the victim, but ignores the ri ...

stemming from the death of a pregnant woman to whom she sold drugs.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Assembly (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Republican Primary, September 12, 2006 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 7, 2006 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 4, 2008 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 2, 2010 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 6, 2012

Wisconsin Assembly (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 8, 2016 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 6, 2018 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 3, 2020

References

External links

* *
Official website

Campaign website

Representative John Nygren
at

Wisconsin Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republ ...

Wisconsin Association of Health Plans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nygren, John 1964 births Living people Lutherans from Wisconsin Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from Marinette, Wisconsin American restaurateurs Businesspeople from Wisconsin 21st-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature