A New Hampshire native, Gregg was born into a family that, for eleven generations, had flourished as mill owners and bankers. His father, Hugh Gregg, served as New Hampshire’s governor for one term (1953-1955), and Judd’s father and grandfather were chairmen of New Hampshire’s largest financial institution: Indian Head Banks. Judd Gregg was born in Nashua on February 14, 1947. Like his father, he was educated in Nashua public schools and then Phillips Exeter Academy (1965). Greg went on to Columbia University (AB 1969) and he received his JD in 1972 from Boston University Law School. The following year, he married Kathleen MacLellan, with whom he has had three children: Molly, Sarah, and Joshua, all of whom eventually graduated from Dartmouth College. Gregg continued at BU’s law school and received his LLM in tax law in 1975. Upon graduating from law school, he returned to Nashua and became a partner in his father’s law firm: Sullivan, Gregg and Horton.

 

Gregg’s political career began in 1979, when he was elected to the New Hampshire Executive Council, District 5. The following year, at the age of 33, he successfully ran for Congress as a Republican in a district that had gone Republican in every election since 1914, and he was reelected in 1982, 1984, and 1986. In 1988, he set his sights on the governorship and was twice elected New Hampshire’s governor. In 1992, he served as President George H.W. Bush’s state campaign manager.

 

In 1992, Gregg was elected to the US Senate, defeating Democrat John Rauh. He was reelected to a second term in 1998 after defeating George Condodemetraky, and ran for a third term in 2004, beating campaign finance activist Doris “Granny D” Haddock, the then-94-year-old Democratic nominee, by 66% to 34%. Haddock’s long-shot challenge was captured in the documentary Run Granny Run.

 

Gregg’s net worth in 2007 was estimated to be between $3 million and $10 million, making him the 21st-richest senator at the time, according to the OpenSecrets.org. In 2005, he won more than $850,000 on a Powerball lottery ticket.

 

Gregg has been viewed as a moderate in the Republican Party, having sided with both the left and right on social issues. In June 2006 he joined six other GOP members in voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment, which sought to ban gay marriage nationwide. In April 2007 he was among the breakaway Republicans to support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. However, he has been steadfastly opposed to abortion. Gregg has voted for some gun control measures and against others. He voted against the Brady Bill, but in recent years has voted for trigger control locks on firearms and in favor of the ban on assault weapons.

 

Among groups that keep tabs on Congressional voting records, the Republicans for Environmental Protection criticized Gregg for sponsoring a resolution (SC Resolution 83) that sought to help open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The same group, though, also praised Gregg for helping to pass the New England Wilderness act, which classified nearly 100,000 acres of New Hampshire and Vermont as wilderness. In 2006, Gregg received a score of 43% from the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters. The libertarian think tank, Cato Institute, has classified Gregg as a “Free Trader,” voting against trade barriers and trade subsidies 81% and 86% of the time.

 

On business matters, Gregg has voted for every major free-trade agreement, according to Business Week: “He has consistently supported measures to reduce business taxes while opposing legislation that would add to business costs or hurt profits: He voted against bills that would require companies to slash carbon emissions, hike taxes on oil and gas producers, or allow the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. And while Gregg voted against the 2007 America Competes Act, which had gained wide bipartisan support, it was on the grounds that the dramatic increases in federal spending on science and technology research were excessive.”

 

The University of New Hampshire renamed its Environmental Technology Building Gregg Hall, in appreciation for Gregg’s efforts to secure $266 million of federal funds for research and development projects for the university. Another place bearing his name is the Judd Gregg Meteorology Institute (JGMI), established in 2003, at Plymouth State University, which offers the only meteorology degree program in New Hampshire. Gregg was also instrumental in the establishing of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in 1999.

 

Gregg’s committee assignments while serving in the Senate included the Committee on Appropriations, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the Budget Committee. Subcommittee assignments included the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Subcommittee on Defense, Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (Ranking Member), Subcommittee on Children and Families, and the Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging.

 

In addition to his legislative duties, Gregg has served as a “trusted, behind-the scenes” advisor for every GOP leader since the mid-1990s, from Mississippi’s Trent Lott to Bill Frist of Tennessee and to Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell.

 

During the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, Gregg stood in for Al Gore and John Kerry, respectively, during practice sessions held by George W. Bush in preparation for the debates. During the 2008 GOP primary for president, Gregg endorsed Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts.

On November 14, 2008, Gregg was appointed to serve on the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the implementation of the $700 billion bailout plan (Emergency Economic Stabilization Act). Gregg voted in favor of the bailout, which was not surprising, considering that he held $1 million to $5 million in stock and savings in Bank of America. As of early February 2009, Gregg reportedly still owned the BofA stock.

 

If Gregg is confirmed as Secretary of Commerce, he will be taking over a cabinet-level agency that he once favored eliminating. In 1995, after Republicans gained full control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, Gregg expressed his eagerness to shrink government by supporting a failed GOP budget-trimming proposal that, among other things, would have eliminated the Commerce Department. After his nomination was announced, a spokesman for Gregg insisted that the fiscal conservative is now “a strong advocate for the Commerce Department’s mission.”
 
US Senate Biography

Gregg's bank stocks raise questions (by Greg Zajac, Los Angeles Times)

Judd Gregg: A Curious Choice for Commerce (by Pete Engardio, Business Week)

Obama picks Gregg for Commerce (by David Rogers, Politico)

How to MakeSure the Stimulus Works (by Judd Gregg, Wall Street Journal)

Gregg’s Voting Record (Project Vote Smart)

Department of Commerce (AllGov)