During his second term as an assemblyman, he contested the national House of Councillors election in 1989 as an independent but was defeated.

He retained his seat in the 2005 general election and was appointed Senior Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in Shinzo Abe's first ministry in 2007.

Nakano contested the July 2010 House of Councillors election but was unable to win a seat in the national proportional representation block.

With JRP's split in August 2014 he joined the newly formed Party for Future Generations.

In November 2018, the Party for Japanese Kokoro dissolved, and Nakano returned to the LDP.