Troy Nehls | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromTexas's22nd district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Pete Olson |
| Sheriff ofFort Bend County | |
| In office January 1, 2013 – January 1, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Milton Wright |
| Succeeded by | Eric Fagan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Troy Edwin Nehls (1968-04-07)April 7, 1968 (age 57) Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Liberty University (BA) University of Houston, Downtown (MA) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 1988–2009 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | Civil Affairs |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Bronze Star Medal (2) |
Troy Edwin Nehls (/nɛlz/NELZ; born April 7, 1968)[1] is an American politician and former law-enforcement officer serving as theU.S. representative forTexas's 22nd congressional district since 2021. Before his election to Congress, he served as thesheriff forFort Bend County, Texas from 2013 to 2021. Nehls is a member of theRepublican Party.
Nehls’s district, which was once represented by prominent representativesRon Paul andTom DeLay, includes most of the southwestern portion of theHouston Metropolitan Area, including a portion of the cities ofSugar Land,Needville andRosenberg. It also includes part of theGreater Katy area.
Nehls is a strong supporter and defender ofPresidentDonald Trump, and has, among other things, called for renamingDulles International Airport after Trump[2] and called on the Republican Party to obediently support whatever Trump says and does.[3][4]
Nehls was born inBeaver Dam, Wisconsin. His father, Edwin Nehls, served in theKorean War and assheriff ofDodge County, Wisconsin.[5] Nehls enlisted in theUnited States Army Reserve in 1988. He servedtours of duty in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and earned twoBronze Stars.[5] He earned hisbachelor's degree fromLiberty University and amaster's degree in criminal justice fromUniversity of Houston–Downtown.[6]
In 1988, Nehls joined theArmy Reserve. Nehls moved to Fort Bend County, Texas, in 1994, and joined the police department ofRichmond, Texas.[6] In 1998, he was fired for reasons including destruction of evidence.[7]
In 2004, Nehls was electedconstable for Fort Bend County, while he was serving as a reservist in Iraq.[5]
In 2012, Nehls was elected sheriff of Fort Bend County, taking office in January 2013.[8] He was reelected in 2016. In July 2019, he announced that he would not seek reelection as sheriff in November 2020.[9][10][11]
In October 2008, Nehls was awarded theCombat Infantryman Badge (CIB) but the CIB was recended and he was awarded theCombat Action Badge (CAB) for his service in Afghanistan in March 2008. In March 2023, the military rescinded the award of the badge to Nehls, because he was not eligible to receive it – he was neither an infantryman nor a special forces operator, but was instead a civil affairs officer. The revocation became public in May 2024.[12] Nehls continued to wear the badge, saying that he disagreed with the revocation, and that he believed "this is a concerted effort to discredit my military service and continued service to the American people as a member of Congress."[13] Nehls subsequently stopped wearing the badge owing in large part to these stolen-valor claims against him.[14]
He retired from the Army Reserve with the rank ofmajor in 2009.[5]
Nehls formed anexploratory committee forTexas's 22nd congressional district for the 2018 elections, which would have pitted him against incumbent RepublicanPete Olson, but decided in December 2017 not to run for that office.[15]
In mid-July 2019, Nehls created a website where he asked Fort Bend County residents whether he should run for Congress in the 22nd congressional district, which coversKaty,Sugar Land, andPearland.[16] On July 25, 2019, Olson announced he would not seek re-election in 2020.[17] In December 2019, Nehls announced that he would run for the seat.[18]
Nehls finished first in the March 2020 Republican primary[19] with 40.5% of the vote. In the July runoff, he defeated second-place finisherKathaleen Wall, receiving 70% of the vote.[20][21]
According to his campaign website, Nehls ran to improve mental and physical health care for veterans and to protect oil and gas jobs in Texas.[22] Two days after he became the nominee, the "Standing with President Trump" page on that website was removed.[23]
In the general election in November, Nehls facedDemocratic nominee Sri Preston Kulkarni.[21] He defeated Kulkarni, 52% to 45%, and assumed office on January 3, 2021.[24][25]
In his first week in the U.S. House, Nehls and other members of Congress were seen assisting U.S. Capitol Police in barricading the door to the House floor from protesters during the2021 United States Capitol attack.[26] Nehls admonished rioters trying to enter the House chamber.[27]
On January 7, 2021, Nehls joined 121 other Republican members of Congress in objecting to counting certain electoral votes in the2020 presidential election.[28] On January 13, 2021, he voted against the second impeachment of PresidentDonald Trump.
After PresidentJoe Biden delivereda speech to a joint session of Congress in April 2021, Nehls approached Biden and said he wanted to work together on criminal-justice reform. Biden administration staff subsequently reached out to Nehls's office.[29] On May 25, 2021, Nehls partnered with RepresentativeVal Demings to introduce H.R. 3529, the Second Chance Opportunity for Re-Entry Education (SCORE) Act, to direct grant funds to county jails for career-training programs for nonviolent, incarcerated individuals to reduce jail recidivism.[30]
On January 3, 2022, Nehls entered a full transcript[31][32] of an interview onThe Joe Rogan Experience withRobert W. Malone into theCongressional Record to circumvent what he said was censorship bysocial media.[33][31]
In the wake of theFBI search of presidential records at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, Nehls announced his support for Donald Trump for president in 2024 and denounced the FBI and Department of Justice as "corrupt".[34]
in 2022, Nehls published his bookThe Big Fraud: What Democrats Don’t Want You to Know about January 6, the 2020 Election, and a Whole Lot Else,[35] which laid out his thoughts on events around that presidential election.[36]
Nehls in January 2024 indicated that he would not support an immigration bill regarding theMexico–United States border being negotiated by the Senate and the Biden administration, because the bill would "help Joe Biden's approval rating".[37] Nehls further said, "Congress doesn’t have to do anything to secure our southern border and fix it."[38]
During the2024 State of the Union Address, Nehls wore a shirt featuringDonald Trump's mug shot and the words "Never Surrender!"[39] He later co-sponsored a bill to renameDulles International Airport after Trump in April.[2]
On March 26, 2024, theUnited States House Committee on Ethics announced Nehls was the subject of an investigation. The committee did not specify the focus of the investigation, but Nehls said it was related to his campaign's finances.[40] On May 10, 2024, the independentOffice of Congressional Ethics reported its findings that probable cause was determined, indicating that Nehls had converted campaign funds for personal use, and recommended further review.[41][42]
On the issue of Trump's threatened tariffs, Nehls said, "If Donald Trump says tariffs work, tariffs work. Period. Because Donald Trump is really never wrong."[3]
Following a GOP conference meeting with President-elect Trump on November 13, 2024,[43] Nehls enthused to gathered news reporters:
"So now he’s got a mission statement of his mission and his goals and objective. Whatever that is, we need to embrace it. All of it. Every single word. If Donald Trump says jump three feet high and scratch your head, we all jump three feet high and scratch our heads. And that's it. He's the greatest thing since sliced bread!"[44]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Troy Nehls | 29,583 | 40.5 | |
| Republican | Kathaleen Wall | 14,201 | 19.4 | |
| Republican | Pierce Bush | 11,281 | 15.4 | |
| Republican | Greg Hill | 10,315 | 14.1 | |
| Republican | Dan Mathews | 2,165 | 3.0 | |
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Libertarian | Party | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Troy Nehls | 204,537 | 51.7% | Sri Preston Kulkarni | 175,738 | 44.4% | Joseph LeBlanc | Libertarian | 15,452 | 3.9% |
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Libertarian | Party | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Troy Nehls | 149,757 | 62.3% | Jamie Jordan | 85,440 | 35.5% | Joseph LeBlanc | Libertarian | 5,362 | 2.2% |
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Libertarian | Party | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Troy Nehls | 209,285 | 62.1% | Marquette Green-Scott | 127,604 | 37.9% |
Nehls has a twin brother, Trever. Trever Nehls served in the Army Reserve for 24 years, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another brother, Todd, served in theWisconsin Army National Guard and is a former sheriff of Dodge County.[5] Trever succeeded Troy as a constable for Fort Bend County in 2013,[8] and won the Republican nomination to succeed him as the sheriff of Fort Bend County in March 2020.[53]
Nehls and his wife, Jill, an educator, have three daughters.[6]
Nehls is aDispensationalistProtestant.[54]
On May 18, 2023, theNational Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) awarded Nehls its Real Solutions Champion award for "his contributions to keeping communities safe during his law enforcement and Congressional career".[55]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromTexas's 22nd congressional district 2021–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 275th | Succeeded by |
