Nolan may have set the record, but he didn’t break it by much. Unless I’m mistaken, the previous record may have been held by Pennsylvania’s Galusha Grow. He served in Congress from 1851-1863 (including a term as Speaker). He came back 31 years later in 1894 to fill a vacancy and served until 1903.
Damn! Pretty close. I didn’t know Grow returned to Congress.
He was the last sitting Speaker to lose reelection until Tom Foley, I believe.
31 years, 36 years, they have nothing on President John Tyler. Tyler served in the U.S. House of Representatives until March 5, 1821, left to return to private life, fairly quickly got into state government, became governor, then elected to the Senate, then elected VP, then became President upon W.H. Harrison’s death, then returned to private life for over 15 years, and then, in January 1862, returned to the House of Representatives after an absence of almost 41 years. Of course, this time, it was the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America ....
Maybe the most memorable example, though, was Jeanette Rankin. She served only two terms separated by 22 years, but managed to vote against our entering both World Wars.
I agree that there's much to be said for term limits, but there's a "Rip Van Winkle" quality to such stories that appeals to the imagination.
I predict Nolan will get thrown out of Congress soon enough for being too "old school" about things like sexual harassment.
Wikipedia writes: "The long hiatus between St. Martin's two terms can be partially explained by the intervening Civil War."
Bing's picture of him is actually a hockey player named Martin St. Louis.