Randy Hultgren

Hultgren and Andy Barr (R-KY) introduced legislation that would compel the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the privacy risks associated with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule. The legislation would also prohibit depository institutions, the CFPB, and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council from making available to the public any information gathered in accordance with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

Hultgren went on record to note that "The U.S. research system is unique. We’ve found an incredibly powerful combination, wedding education and research by incorporating universities, user facilities and Department of Energy resources. But this system is only as stable our commitment to it, which is why sustained and predictable research funding is crucial."

In his 2018 reelection campaign, Hultgren was defeated by Democratic nominee Lauren Underwood.

Hultgren ran for reelection in 2018. He was unopposed in the Republican primary. Lauren Underwood won the March 20 Democratic primary with 57.35% of the vote. Others receiving votes were Matt Brolley, Jim Walz, Victor Swanson, John Hosta, George Weber, and Daniel Roldan-Johnson. Underwood defeated Hultgren in the November general election with 52% of the vote to Hultgren's 48%.

Hultgren is a strong supporter of the second amendment. In April 2018, after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, Hultgren urged schools and police to do a better job of identifying and intervening with people who are potential threats. “We need to do more to make sure people who are speaking out and acting out or have mental challenges don't get weapons, that people who have criminal histories don't get weapons, and when hearing of a threat we respond quickly,” he said.

In June 2018 Hultgren and Roskam expressed their disapproval of Trump's plan to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and the European Union. “There's real concern about what an escalating trade war would mean,” said Hultgren, who articulated concern about the impact of such tariffs on manufacturers and farmers in his district.

On March 6, 2018, the House passed without opposition H.R. 4725, the Community Bank Reporting Relief Act, sponsored by Hultgren and two other Members of Congress. The law simplifies reporting requirements for community banks. “The role of smaller financial institutions is especially important in more rural areas, such as my district, where larger banks tend to not have as many branches”, Hultgren said.

On February 14, 2018, Hultgren delivered a statement on the House floor wishing a happy birthday to Zhu Yufu, a prisoner of conscience in China, and calling on Chinese authorities to release him from detention. Hultgren had “adopted” Zhu Yufu to highlight his plight as part of the Defending Freedoms Project, a joint effort by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and Amnesty International USA. The next day the Lantos Commission, which Hultgren co-chaired, hosted a hearing on prisoners of conscience.

In February 2017 Hultgren was appointed the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which “promotes international human rights through hearings, briefings and other awareness-building activities, and by providing expertise on key issues”.

As of July 10, 2017, Hultgren voted with his party in 99.1% of votes so far in the current session of Congress and voted in line with President Donald Trump's position in 97.3% of votes.

Hultgren favored repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). On May 4, 2017, he voted to repeal Obamacare and pass the American Health Care Act.

In November 2017 Hultgren and Peter Roskam introduced the Bring Small Business back Tax Reform Act as part of the Trump Administration's tax reform package. Hultgren said the bill was intended “to cut the overall small business tax rate to 25 percent,” a change he said would “provide much-needed relief to the engine of Illinois's economy.”

"Immigration is a foundational part of who we are...to be a place of refuge," Hultgren told the Chicago Tribune in September 2017. "I understand that there are bad actors and terrorists out there ... but I don't want to shut off opportunity for people who really need refuge."

In September 2017 Hultgren hosted a screening of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei's film Human Flow, about the refugee crisis in 23 countries. The Chicago Tribune wrote that Hultgren had "taken up the cause of Zhu Yufu, a Chinese dissident poet jailed for publishing pro-democracy poetry."

Hultgren defeated Democrat Jim Walz in the November 2016 general election with 59% of the vote.

Hultgren endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Hultgren served on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) from 2015 to 2019. In this role, he worked “to promote human rights, stability, and security in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) region," placing “special priority in protecting religious liberties, preventing human rights violations, combating human trafficking, and preventing Russian aggression into neighboring countries.” Hultgren was also a Commissioner on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, where he worked to "raise awareness about political prisoners who are being deprived of civil and political rights by their own government.”

In December 2015, citing religious freedom, Hultgren criticized presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. “Singling out any faith community for the actions of extremists is not conservative, it is hostile to our founding,” he said.

The redrawn 14th included areas previously part of the neighboring 8th district, represented by fellow Republican resident Joe Walsh. The new map drew Walsh's home, along with much of the McHenry County portion of the old 8th, into the 14th. At the same time the 8th was made significantly more Democratic, prompting Walsh to consider challenging Hultgren in the primary for the much friendlier 14th. But soon after Hultgren sought a second term in the 14th, Walsh decided to run in the 8th district. In the general election, Hultgren won reelection to a second term, beating Democratic candidate Dennis Anderson with 59% of the vote.

In 2013 Hultgren voted for legislation stop an increase of the debt limit, which led to a government shutdown. He was the only congressperson from Illinois to vote against an agreement to reopen government and end the government shutdown.

Hultgren was a vocal opponent of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created new financial regulations after the financial crisis. He called Dodd-Frank "flawed" and introduced Republican-backed legislation to end it. Hultgren supported the Financial CHOICE Act, another Republican-backed bill to dismantle Dodd-Frank; the legislation would have eliminated the Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research, killed the Volcker Rule (which bars certain banks from particular risky trades); killed the Orderly Liquidation Authority (which allows the federal government to shut down failing banks that post a systemic risk to the economy); and removed a provision imposing greater oversight on "systemically important financial institutions." Hultgren introduced the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act into the House in March 2013; the bill would have rolled back Dodd-Frank regulations and expand banks' authority to use swaps to hedging risk. The bill passed the House but not the Senate, and did not become law.

Hultgren was a strong advocate of municipal finance and tax-exempt municipal bonds. In 2013 he joined with fellow U.S. Representative Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) in securing the signatures of 137 House Republicans and Democrats in a letter urging congressional leaders to "reject any proposal to cap or eliminate the deduction on tax-exempt municipal bonds used to finance the vast majority of infrastructure projects in America’s communities." The two circulated a similar letter in 2015 and formed the Municipal Finance Caucus in 2016.

Hultgren introduced the American Super Computing Leadership Act (H.R. 2495; 113th Congress) into the House on June 25, 2013. The bill would require the United States Department of Energy to improve and increase its use of high-end computers, especially exascale computing, through an organized research program.

Hultgren voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.

In October 2012 Hultgren was a recipient of the Champion of Science Award by the Science Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group composed of the 50 leading research universities in the United States. The award was presented by Fermilab Director Pier Oddone and University of Illinois President Robert Easter along with University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer, who said, "Congressman Hultgren provides a strong voice for science in Congress."

Hultgren has been an advocate for homeschooling, as his four children are home-schooled, and he believes that "homeschooling is the ultimate local control." In 2011 Hultgren introduced the Family Educational Records Privacy Extension Act (H.R. 2910), which would have required "parental consent before educational agencies or institutions release the educational records of home-schooled students."

As a result of the decennial reapportionment following the 2010 Census, Illinois lost one seat in the US House of Representatives. The new district map (now with only 18 districts, and drawn by the Democratic-controlled Illinois General Assembly) saw Hultgren's district lose its vast western portion, becoming much more compact and centered around Chicago's outer western suburbs. Notably, it absorbed most of McHenry County, the only collar county Barack Obama did not win in 2012.

In 2010 Hultgren signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, promising to vote against any climate-change legislation that would raise taxes. The League of Conservation Voters gave Hultgren an environmental rating of 0% for 2017 and a lifetime rating of 5%.

On September 28, 2009, Hultgren announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in Illinois's 14th congressional district and won the party's nomination in the February 2nd primary election. Hultgren defeated Democratic incumbent Bill Foster 51%–45%.

Hultgren represented the 48th district Senate seat in the Illinois General Assembly from 2007 to 2011. The 48th Senate District includes parts of DuPage, Kane, and Will counties and all or part of Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, Naperville, North Aurora, Warrenville, West Chicago, Wheaton, and Winfield.

In 2006 incumbent State Senator Peter Roskam of Illinois's 48th Senate District decided to retire to run for Congress again. Hultgren ran and won the Republican primary 60%–40% over Naperville City Councilman Dick Furstenau. He won the general election unopposed. In 2008 he won reelection to a second term unopposed.

In 2002 Hultgren moved four miles southwest from Wheaton to adjacent Winfield, Illinois. In 2014 he moved 22 miles southwest from Winfield in DuPage County to Plano, Illinois, in Kendall County. Hultgren lives in Plano with his wife, Christy, and their four children, who have been home-schooled.

In 1998 incumbent Republican State Representative Peter Roskam of Illinois's 40th House District decided to retire in order to run for Congress. Hultgren ran and won unopposed. He won reelection to a second term unopposed in 2000. After redistricting, Hultgren decided to run in the newly redrawn 95th House District and defeated Democrat Dirk Enger 61%–37%.

In October 1993 he announced he would run in the March 1994 Republican primary for the DuPage County Board District 4 seat being vacated by Gwen Henry in her bid to be DuPage County Board Chairman. In the March 1994 Republican primary, the then 27-year-old first-time candidate Hultgren narrowly edged Wheaton City Councilman Grant Eckhoff by only 252 votes, a margin of less than 1 percent, out of almost 22,000 Republican ballots cast in DuPage County Board District 4. Hultgren received a great deal of support from those who had backed Peter Roskam of Wheaton in Roskam's first campaign for Illinois House District 40 two years earlier. In the November 1994 general election Hultgren and incumbent Republican DuPage County District 4 board member Pat Carr of Wheaton easily defeated their two Democratic opponents. Hultgren served one 4-year term as one of the then all-Republican 24-member DuPage County Board from December 1994 to December 1998. DuPage County Board members at that time also served as DuPage County Forest Commissioners.

Hultgren then returned to his hometown where in 1990 he purchased a small house and was elected Republican precinct committeeman for Milton Township Precinct 20 in Wheaton, and began attending the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago. In 1991 he married Christy L. Nungesser after she graduated from Bethel College. In August 1992 Hultgren had his small house demolished and had a historic 125-year-old Wheaton house he purchased for $1 moved one block west to his lot and had a new foundation poured under it. In 1993 he earned a J.D. from IIT Chicago-Kent.

Hultgren, whose grandfather was a Baptist pastor, then became the third generation of his family to attend Bethel College & Seminary in Arden Hills, Minnesota, where he earned a B.A. magna cum laude in political science and speech communication in 1988.

He next moved to Washington, D.C. to work as an aide to Republican U.S. Representative Dennis Hastert (IL-14) from 1988 to 1990, where he rose from intern to office manager.

In September 1976 Paul W. Hanerhoff, the owner of Hanerhoff Funeral Home in downtown Wheaton, Illinois since 1943, died. In May 1977 Dorothy B. Hanerhoff sold the funeral home to Hultgren's father, and it was called the Hanerhoff-Hultgren Funeral Home until 1987, when it became the Hultgren Funeral Home. The Hultgrens moved from Park Ridge to Wheaton in 1977 and lived upstairs from the funeral home for eight years. Hultgren attended Wheaton Christian High School in West Chicago, Illinois, graduating in 1984.

Randall Mark Hultgren (/ˈ h ʌ l t ɡ r ə n / ; born March 1, 1966) is an American politician who served as the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 14th congressional district from 2011 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Randall Mark "Randy" Hultgren, the youngest of three children of Vernon H. Hultgren and JoAnne R. Hultgren, lived in Park Ridge, Illinois from 1966 to 1977.