Tommy Garrett (Nebraska politician)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tommy Garrett (born June 4, 1954) is a Nebraska politician and a retired Air Force colonel. A Republican, he served in the Nebraska Legislature from 2013 to 2017, representing the 3rd district in eastern Sarpy County, including parts of Bellevue and Papillion. He was appointed in 2013 to fill a vacancy and won the 2014 election, but was defeated by Carol Blood in 2016.

Early life and career
Garrett was born at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. After his father died when he was 13, his family moved to Colorado, where he finished high school in Aurora in 1972. He earned a B.S. in business management from Colorado State University in 1976 and joined the U.S. Air Force that year. He later earned a M.S. in international relations from Troy State University (1986) and an M.S. in national security strategy from the National War College (2000). He and his wife, Julie Ann Cullen, married in 1977, and they have three children. Garrett served in Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, moved 17 times during his 26 years in the military, and retired in 2003 as a colonel at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue.

After the Air Force
Following his military career, Garrett worked four years for a defense contractor and, in 2007, founded the Garrett Group in Bellevue. The disabled-veteran-owned firm provides security, intelligence, and information security consulting to the Defense Department.

In the Nebraska Legislature
Garrett was appointed to the 3rd District seat in December 2013 to replace Scott Price. The Legislature is nonpartisan, though Garrett is a Republican. He served as chair of the Rules Committee, vice-chair of the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee, and sat on the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee and the Committee on Committees.

Key legislative actions
- 2015: Garrett supported three major bills that the governor initially vetoed. He voted to repeal the death penalty (LB268) and to override the veto, supported allowing DACA recipients to obtain driver’s licenses (LB623) and to override the governor’s veto, and opposed a gas-tax increase (LB610), voting to sustain the governor’s veto.
- 2016: He backed LB580 to create an independent redistricting commission and LB935 on state audits (both passed but were not overridden by the governor’s veto). He voted for LB947 to allow DACA beneficiaries to obtain licenses and for overriding the governor’s veto. He also voted against LB10, which would have made Nebraska’s electoral votes winner-take-all.

Election history
- 2014: Garrett defeated Carol Blood in the general election to win the remaining two years of the term.
- 2016: Blood defeated Garrett, ending his legislative term.

Personal
Garrett resides in Bellevue, Nebraska. He works as a consultant and remains connected to defense and security issues through his professional background.