| Sean Duffy | |
|---|---|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 7th district |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 8, 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Dave Obey |
| Ashland County District Attorney | |
| In office August 1, 2002 – July 9, 2010 |
|
| Governor | Scott McCallum Jim Doyle |
| Preceded by | Michael Gableman |
| Succeeded by | Kelly McKnight |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sean Duffy October 3, 1971 Hayward, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Rachel Campos-Duffy (married 1999; 6 children) |
| Residence | Weston, Wisconsin |
| Alma mater | St. Mary's University William Mitchell College of Law |
| Profession | Prosecutor |
| Religion | Roman Catholic[1] |
Sean Duffy[2] (born October 3, 1971) is an American politician, prosecutor, former sports commentator and reality television personality. He first entered public life as a cast member on The Real World: Boston and 2002's Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons, before going on to serve as district attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin[3] and the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 7th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party.
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Duffy was born in Hayward, Wisconsin,[4] on October 3, 1971, the tenth of 11 children of Carol Ann (née Yackel) and Thomas Walter Duffy. He is of Irish, English, German, and Norwegian descent.[5] Duffy has a marketing degree from St. Mary's University, and a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law.[6]
Duffy started log rolling at age 5 and speed climbing (sprinting up 60 and 90 foot poles) at 13. He holds two speed-climbing titles.[7]
Duffy has been an ESPN color commentator for televised competitions and in 2003 appeared as both a competitor and commentator on ESPN's Great Outdoor Games.[6] He was named Badger State Games Honorary Athlete of the 2004 Winter Games.[6]
In 1997, Duffy appeared on The Real World: Boston, the sixth season of the MTV reality television show, and on Road Rules: All Stars in 1998, where he met his future wife Rachel. Duffy later appeared on Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons, which aired in 2002. Both appeared in a filmed segment on 2008's The Real World Awards Bash, while Duffy served as district attorney.[8]
Duffy, a Republican,[9] was appointed to the district attorney's post in 2002[10] by then Gov. Scott McCallum, and was elected unopposed in 2002,[10] 2004,[11] 2006[12] and 2008. Upon assuming the office of district attorney, he succeeded Michael Gableman, a current justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Duffy was on the Republican slate of the 10 Wisconsin electors for the 2008 Presidential Election.[13]
On July 8, 2009, Duffy announced his campaign for Congress in Wisconsin's seventh congressional district. Duffy was considered an underdog in the race until May 2010 when 15-term incumbent Democrat Representative Dave Obey announced that he would not seek re-election.[14] Following Obey's announcement, Democratic State Senator Julie Lassa joined the race.
On June 4, 2010, Duffy announced his resignation from the position of District Attorney of Ashland County to focus on the congressional race. The resignation was effective three weeks later and Duffy returned to work in his father's law practice.[15]
He won the race on November 2, 2010, in a nationwide wave of Republicans being elected to Congress.[16] Different sources attribute his victory to his ten month head start on Lassa's campaign, his grassroots organization and fundraising, his experience as a district attorney, and voter discontent with the economy.[17]
Duffy has voted with his party 91% of the time.[18] On March 17, 2011, Duffy was one of only seven Republicans who voted "No" on a House bill that would strip all government funding from National Public Radio.[19] He also voted against the repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act.[20] The first piece of legislation he sponsored was the RESET Act, which called for using unspent money in Obama's economic stimulus plan to pay down the debt. The idea was later incorporated into a spending bill. He also introduced a resolution to ban earmarks. One of his sponsored legislation, to reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, passed the U.S. House but hasn't passed the U.S. Senate.[20] The bill created a bipartisan commission made up of five members of Congress to replace the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director. The bill also gave the committee more room to get rid of polices that Duffy believes jeopardize the safety of the US banking system.[21]
In March 2011, Duffy caused controversy when a video published by the Polk County Republicans, showing a public town hall-style meeting in his district, was removed after critics attacked the video. In the video, made in the wake of the passage of a controversial state bill which would have effectively frozen the salaries of state employees, Duffy was asked about whether he would be willing to cut his own $174,000 salary. Duffy responded that he would only be willing to do so as part of a general round of salary cuts for government employees, and insisted that he was "struggling" to get by, despite his salary being nearly three times the average for Wisconsin residents.[22] The video has since been published in other locations.[23][24][25][26][27]
From February to October 2011, Duffy voted yes on three different bills to approve limits on funding for Abortion. The bills were: 1) Amends Federal Health Care Law to Prohibit Abortion Coverage; 2) Prohibiting Taxpayer Funding of Abortion; 3) Prohibiting Use of Federal Funds For Planned Parenthood.[28] Duffy cosponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act.[29] While the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is presented by pro-life advocates as a straightforward bill intending to stop federal dollars from going to fund abortions, pro-choice advocates say that federal funding of abortion is already prohibited, and the bill's true intent is to restrict insurance coverage for and decrease access to abortions.[30]
On December 22, 2011, Duffy and fellow GOP House freshman Rick Crawford (Arkansas), published an open letter to Speaker Boehner, urging the leader to allow the House to vote on the Senate's 2-month tax cut extension compromise.[31]
Duffy serves on the Committee on Financial Services, in particular the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit and the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity.[32]
Duffy is married to Rachel Campos-Duffy, an alumna of The Real World: San Francisco.[33][34][35] They live in Ashland, Wisconsin.[36] They have six children: Evita Pilar, Xavier Jack, Lucia-Belen, John-Paul, Paloma Pilar and MariaVictoria Margarita.[37][38]
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dave Obey |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 7th congressional district January 3, 2011 – present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Bob Dold R-Illinois |
United States Representatives by seniority 361st |
Succeeded by Jeff Duncan R-South Carolina |
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| 112th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Johnson | House: J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Duffy | R. Ribble |