- The Carolina Journal has discovered that Congressman Wiley Nickel, D-NC, and Tucker Carlson, two men on polar opposite sides of the political spectrum, are second cousins.
As it turns out, conservative media personality Tucker Carlson and U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel, a freshman Democratic member of Congress, share more than merely a passion for politics. The Carolina Journal has discovered that the two men on polar opposite sides of the political spectrum are second cousins.
Carlson and Nickel share a great-grandfather, George Wilmarth Nickel. Carlson’s family tree is well-established on most ancestry websites.
However, the family tree of Wiley Nickel, or George Wilmarth Nickel III, was more difficult to track down.
An article published by a local California newspaper in October of 2006 establishes that Wiley Nickel is the grandson of “the late George W. Nickel, who was the patriarch of the Rio Bravo development in eastern Bakersfield and one-time head of the vast Nickel Family LLC farming empire.”
Multiple obituaries and sources confirm that Congressman Nickel’s aforementioned grandfather, George W. Nickel, whose full name was George Wilmarth Nickel, was indeed the owner of Bravo development in Bakersfield, California, and head of Nickel Family LLC.
A document from the University of California-Berkley, provides a more in-depth biography of Congressman Nickel’s grandfather, “The Cattle King.”
Further research found evidence that Wiley is in fact the son of Henry Miller Nickel.
Tucker Carlson’s mother, Lisa McNear Lombardi, and Wiley Nickel’s father, Henry Miller Nickel, were first cousins, since their parents were siblings.
Carlson gained a huge national following during his time hosting “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, which consistently received the highest news ratings in cable television. However, Carlson left the conservative news network after a dispute, with details surrounding his departure still unclear.
Carlson recently interviewed the entire Republican presidential field, minus Donald Trump, at an evangelical forum in Iowa.