Richard Corcoran


Richard Corcoran is an American Republican politician and former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives who currently serves as the Education Commissioner of Florida. Corcoran represented the 37th District, which includes central Pasco County, from 2012 to 2018, and previously represented the 45th District from 2010 to 2012. On December 6, 2018, governor-elect of Florida Ron DeSantis announced he would nominate Corcoran to be Education Commissioner. Corcoran was unanimously confirmed as Education Commissioner by the Florida Board of Education on December 17, 2018, and took office on January 8, 2019, upon the effectiveness of the resignation of his predecessor, Pam Stewart.

Background

Born in Canada, Richard Corcoran grew up in Pasco County, Florida, having moved there when he was 11. His parents were both veterans of World War II. His father was an American soldier in the U.S. Army and his mother, a daughter of a British tea-planter, served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force of the Royal Air Force during the London Blitz.
Corcoran attended St. Leo College, from which he was graduated in 1989, and Regent University, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1996. He served six years in the United States Naval Reserve.
His wife is Anne, and they have six children. They reside in Land O’ Lakes, Florida.

Florida House of Representatives

When incumbent State Representative Tom Anderson was unable to seek re-election due to term limits in 2010, Corcoran ran to succeed him in the 45th District, which included parts of southern Pasco County and northern Pinellas County.
When the state legislative districts were redrawn in 2012, Corcoran was drawn into the 37th District, which included some of the areas in Pasco County that he represented in the 45th District. Corcoran faced a challenge from Strother Hammond in the Republican primary. He was endorsed for re-election by The Tampa Tribune. Corcoran defeated Hammond, gathering nearly 84% of the vote. Corcoran was subsequently re-elected without opposition in both 2014 and 2016. Following his 2016 election, Corcoran became Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives for the 2016-2018 legislative session.

Education Commissioner of Florida

On July 7, 2020 President Trump tweeted "Schools must open in the fall," the same day that Corcoran ordered all public and private brick-and-mortar schools to reopen in August for at least five days per week and provide a "full-array" of services. That day, the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida resulted in 11,385 new COVID-19 cases and 63 deaths, totaling to 213,797 cases and 3,841 deaths.