Press kit.
Below: approved bios, headshots, the campaign logo, fact sheet, and recent releases. Members of the press with deadline questions are encouraged to contact the campaign press office directly.
Chris Nocco is a candidate for Florida State Senate, District 21. He has served as Sheriff of Pasco County since 2011, when he was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott. He was re-elected without opposition in 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. He lives in Pasco County with his wife, Bridget, and their three children.
Chris Nocco is the Republican candidate for Florida State Senate, District 21, which covers parts of Pasco and Pinellas counties. He has served as Sheriff of Pasco County since 2011, when he was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, and has been re-elected without opposition four times. He is a first responder to the September 11, 2001 attacks and to the Washington, D.C. sniper and anthrax incidents.
Before becoming Sheriff, Nocco served as Staff Director of the Florida House Policy and Procedure Office, as Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Speaker Marco Rubio, and as Chief of Staff for the Florida Highway Patrol. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Delaware. He and his wife, Bridget, are raising three children in Pasco County.
Chris Nocco is the Republican candidate for Florida State Senate, District 21, representing parts of Pasco and Pinellas counties along Florida's Suncoast.
Nocco has served as Sheriff of Pasco County since 2011, when he was appointed by then-Governor Rick Scott. He was elected to the position in 2012 and re-elected without opposition in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Under his leadership, the Pasco Sheriff's Office was the first agency in the Tampa Bay area to outfit its deputies with body-worn cameras. He founded F1RST — Florida's Forensic Institute for Research, Security and Tactics — a one-of-a-kind training facility that brings law enforcement, academia, and the private sector under one roof. He has built one of Florida's largest Behavioral Health Intervention Teams, pairing deputies with clinicians to respond to mental health crises with compassion as well as authority. The agency's School Resource Officer unit was named SRO Unit of the Year by the Florida Association of School Resource Officers.
Before his appointment as Sheriff, Nocco served as Staff Director of the Florida House of Representatives Policy and Procedure Office, where he managed domestic security, criminal justice, emergency management, economic development, and transportation issues for the chamber. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, and as Chief of Staff for the Florida Highway Patrol. In 2017, he was appointed to the Florida Constitution Revision Commission.
Nocco was among the first responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Washington, D.C. sniper incidents, and the 2001 anthrax mailings. He began his law enforcement career with the Philadelphia Public School Police, the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia, and the Broward County Sheriff's Office.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Delaware. He is a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute and the Naval Postgraduate School Executive Leadership Program, with additional executive education from MIT and Harvard.
Chris and his wife, Bridget, are raising three children in Pasco County. They are active in their church and in youth sports.