Trey Radel

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Trey Radel
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 19th district
In office
January 3, 2013 – January 27, 2014
Preceded byConnie Mack IV (Redistricting)
Succeeded byCurt Clawson
Personal details
Born
Henry Jude Radel III

(1976-04-20) April 20, 1976 (age 48)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseAmy Wegmann
Children3
EducationLoyola University Chicago (BA)
WebsiteOfficial website

Henry Jude Radel III (born April 20, 1976) is an American radio personality, political commentator, author, actor, and former member of the United States House of Representatives. Radel’s show airs on the Florida-based station WFSX-FM, a Fox News Radio affiliate.

Early life and education[edit]

Radel was born in 1976 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Kathleen (Sollinger) and Henry Jude Radel, Jr. He attended Elder High School. Radel majored in communications and minored in Italian at Loyola University Chicago.[1]

Media career[edit]

Radel began his career as a journalist, working as both an anchor and a reporter.[2] He interned for CNN at its headquarters in Atlanta. Radel then worked for CBS affiliates KHOU in Houston, WBBM in Chicago, and WINK-TV in Fort Myers, Florida.

In 2005, Radel bought the Naples Journal, a community newspaper that he later sold to the E.W. Scripps Company, the owner of Naples Daily News. In 2007, after selling the Journal, Radel returned to WINK, leaving in 2009 to host a live, 4-hour long morning radio show on WFSX-FM.

Radel would return to the station in September 2016 to host mornings. A year later, he moved to afternoon drive time, the time slot [3] he hosts today.

Writing[edit]

Trey Radel on Set of The Truth Is Stranger Than Florida on The Discovery Network

On March 28, 2017, Blue Rider Press, an imprint of the Random House company, released Radel’s book, Democrazy,[4] a True Story of Weird Politics, Money, Madness, and Finger Food. The book was reviewed[5] by HuffPost as "a brutally honest, outrageous memoir" which exposes "how the Washington sausage really gets made.” Along with former New York Governor George Pataki, Radel co-authored Beyond the Great Divide[6]: How a Nation Became a Neighborhood. The book was published by Post Hill Press and described[6] as, “An unprecedented, insider view into 9/11 and the inner workings of the political climate that emerged after the attacks.”

Acting[edit]

Radel was trained as an actor and a comedian and performed improvisational work at Second City in Chicago.[1]

In 2016, Radel started what would become a recurring role as a TV news anchor on the show StartUp, which debuted on the Sony-owned app Crackle and was later purchased and streamed on Netflix.[7] He also played the lead, starring as a detective, in the series Truth is Stranger than Florida on the Investigation Discovery network. Radel’s most recent role was on the Disney+ series, The Right Stuff, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. He played the part of a reporter.[8]

U.S. House of Representatives[edit]

Radel represented Florida's 19th congressional district from January 3, 2013 through January 27, 2014, sworn into the 113th United States Congress.[9] The district is located in Southwest Florida and includes Fort Myers, Naples and Cape Coral.

Election[edit]

See also: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida § District 19

Incumbent Republican Representative Connie Mack IV decided not to run for reelection to his seat, in order to challenge Democratic 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.[10] When this was revealed, 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.[10]

Radel's political philosophy is conservative, but he nevertheless has said he supports the principles of the DREAM Act.[11] Radel was endorsed by the incumbent Connie Mack IV, former U.S. Senator Connie Mack III, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.[12] Chauncey Goss (who finished second to Radel in the primary)[13] was endorsed by U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan.[14] Radel won the primary with 30% of the vote, primarily on the strength of his showing in his native Lee County.[15] His primary campaign featured a "Tea Party-tinged" message.[16]

In the general election, Radel faced Democrat Jim Roach of Cape Coral, a retired GM research engineer and Vietnam veteran. Radel was heavily favored to win because 19th has long been reckoned as one of the most Republican districts in Florida. Radel won the 2012 election with 63% of the vote.[17]

Conviction and resignation[edit]

On October 29, 2013, Radel was arrested in the District of Columbia after attempting to buy 3.5 grams of cocaine from an undercover federal officer.[18][19] Less than a month later, Radel pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of possession of cocaine and was sentenced to one year of supervised probation.[20]

Following his conviction for cocaine possession, Radel went on a self-imposed leave of absence to undergo addiction rehabilitation, announcing that he would be donating his salary to charity during his absence. Radel stopped short of resigning.[19][21] The Republican Party of Florida and Governor Rick Scott called for his resignation.[18] On January 27, 2014, Radel announced he would resign from Congress.[18][22][23] He had not voted in Congress after November 15, 2013 in the wake of the conviction.[24] In late January 2014, Radel officially tendered his resignation in a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner. Republican businessman Curt Clawson won the special general election held on June 24, 2014 to replace him.

Radel completed all conditions of his probation in October 2014, and he successfully petitioned the court to expunge his criminal record.[25][26]

Committee assignments[edit]

Filmography[edit]

Radel at a book signing, 2020

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2016 Truth is Stranger than Florida Lead detective Television show
2016–2017 StartUp TV news anchor Web series
2020 The Right Stuff Reporter 1 Television show

Electoral history[edit]

2012[edit]

2012 Florida's 19th congressional district Republican primary[27]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Trey Radel 22,284 30.0%
Republican Chauncey Goss 15,994 21.5%
Republican Paige Kreegel 13,148 17.7%
Republican Gary Aubuchon 11,486 15.5%
Republican Byron Donalds 10,376 14.0%
Republican Joe Davidow 1,026 1.4%
Total votes 74,314 100.00
2012 Florida's 19th congressional district general election[27]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Trey Radel 189,833 62.0%
Democratic Jim Roach 109,746 35.8%
Independent Brandon Smith 6,637 2.2%
Total votes 303,216 100.00

Personal life[edit]

Radel is married to Fox-4 anchor Amy Wegmann.[28] They have three children, and live in Fort Myers.[29][30] Radel is also fluent in Spanish.[1]

Nonprofit work[edit]

Radel, along with his wife, founded a nonprofit organization called the U.S. Forces Fund,[31] which focuses on helping injured soldiers returning home from abroad. Radel also works with the local Harry Chapin Food Bank.[28]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Catching Up With Congressman Trey Radel". Fort Myers Florida Weekly. 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  2. ^ "Correspondent", Wikipedia, 2019-11-15, retrieved 2019-11-23
  3. ^ Batten, Brent. "Change made to Trey Radel's radio show". Naples Daily News. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  4. ^ Democrazy: A True Story of Weird Politics, Money, Madness, and Finger Food. Blue Rider Press. 28 March 2017. ISBN 9780735210721. Retrieved 2019-11-23 – via www.amazon.com.
  5. ^ "Democrazy by Trey Radel". Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  6. ^ a b Pataki, George (April 14, 2020). Beyond the Great Divide: How a Nation Became a Neighborhood. Post Hill Press. ISBN 978-1642932317.
  7. ^ "StartUp (TV series)", Wikipedia, 2021-05-31, retrieved 2021-06-04
  8. ^ "Trey Radel". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  9. ^ Radel, Henry J. III, FEC filing for office
  10. ^ a b Ward, Kenric (25 April 2012). "Trey Radel Shuts "Domain Gate" – Will Give Up Websites". Sunshine State News. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  11. ^ "» Trey Radel Just Can't Seem To Avoid Controversy". FloridaPoliticalPress.com. July 29, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  12. ^ "Endorsements « Trey Radel". Treyradel.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  13. ^ "Florida Division of Elections". Archived from the original on November 5, 2014.
  14. ^ Buzzacco, Jenna (August 14, 2012). "Radel declares victory in Southwest Florida race for Congress". Naples Daily News. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  15. ^ "FL District 19 – R Primary Race – Aug 14, 2012". Our Campaigns. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  16. ^ Cocaine and the Congressman: The Trey Radel you didn't know, Naples Daily News (November 23, 2013).
  17. ^ "Redistricting Florida U.S. House Districts | Tampabay.com – St. Petersburg Times". Tampabay.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  18. ^ a b c "Trey Radel: Florida Republicans urge cocaine congressman to quit". BBC News. November 25, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  19. ^ a b Luscombe, Richard (January 27, 2014). "Florida congressman Trey Radel to resign after cocaine conviction". The Guardian. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  20. ^ Sherman, Jake (November 20, 2013). "Trey Radel pleads guilty to cocaine possession". Politico. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  21. ^ Sherman, Jake (20 November 2013). "Trey Radel taking leave of absence from Congress". Politico. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  22. ^ Sherman, Jake; Isenstadt, Alex (January 27, 2014). "Radel resigns from House seat". Politico. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  23. ^ Henderson, Jeff (November 28, 2013). "Republicans Gear Up to Replace Trey Radel in Congress". Sunshine State News. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  24. ^ Thorp, Frank (January 2, 2014). "Out of rehab, Radel to return to House next week". NBC News.
  25. ^ Camia, Catalina. "Trey Radel's criminal record cleared of cocaine charge". USA Today Politics. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  26. ^ King, Ledyard (October 30, 2014). "Ex-congressman Trey Radel's record expunged". The News-Press.
  27. ^ a b "Trey Radel".
  28. ^ a b "Broadcaster Trey Radel running for Connie Mack's congressional seat". Naples Daily News. January 6, 2012. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  29. ^ "Amy Wegmann, Anchor". fox4now.com. WFTX-TV. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  30. ^ "Florida House District 19 race: Republican primary candidates". Naples Daily News. August 5, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  31. ^ "Detail by Entity Name". search.sunbiz.org. Retrieved 2019-11-23.

External links[edit]

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 19th congressional district
2013–2014 		Succeeded by
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byas former U.S. Representative Order of precedence of the United States
as former U.S. Representative 		Succeeded byas former U.S. Representative
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trey_Radel&oldid=1219932488"