Richard Michael Corcoran (born March 16, 1965) is an American politician who was speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

[3] He later attended St. Leo College, graduating in 1989, and Regent University School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1996.

[7] Corcoran ran the 1994 campaign that took Mike Fasano, later Majority leader and Senate President, to the Florida House for the first time.

"[3] In January 2018, Corcoran stated that between 2007 and 2018, he witnessed "probably less than ten" legislators engaging in sexual harassment and misconduct in the Florida legislature.

"[22] Two months later, in March 2018, Corcoran called out the Florida Senate for endangering legislation to crack down on sexual harassment.

[23] In January 2018, Corcoran's PAC Watchdog USA began airing ads as he explored a run for governor.

Democratic state representative Anna V. Eskamani criticized his appointment, saying that Corcoran had "no professional background in education.

[30] Anne Corcoran, who founded a classical liberal arts charter school because she believed in that model of education, was unpaid for her role.

[31] Corcoran dismissed previous allegations that her husband has a conflict of interest, saying her family likely loses money for the unpaid time she dedicates to her charter school.

[37] While the district did not specify the cause of removal, a Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit alleged that the cause was Donfrio's posting of a Black Lives Matter flag and anti-racist content in her teaching.

[38] Responding to questions following a speech at Hillsdale College in early May, Corcoran announced that it was he who made the decision to fire Donfrio: "We made sure she was terminated and now we're being sued by every one of the liberal left groups who say it's freedom of speech issue" and accused the teacher of having her "entire classroom memorialized to Black Lives Matter".

[39] In May 2021, Corcoran submitted an application to succeed John E. Thrasher as president of Florida State University, and the selection committee advanced him along with eight others for on campus interviews.

[45] In 2022, Corcoran came under scrutiny when the DOE was shown to be in talks with MGT Consulting, a firm led by Corcoran's longtime colleague Trey Traviesa, for some time before the bidding on a multimillion-dollar educational services contract was opened for a single week, a situation that appeared to allow the firm preferential access.

[47] State investigators learned of the improprieties when a new company formed by two of Corcoran's deputies, Strategic Initiatives Partners, also applied for the Jefferson County contract on the final day of bidding.

[47] The DOE inspector general opened a probe as a conflict-of-interest investigation into Strategic Initiatives Partners and issued an inconclusive report.

[52] While speaker of the House, Corcoran criticized a Florida Education Association lawsuit and described teachers unions as "literally trying to destroy the lives of 100,000 children.

[55] During the run-up to the 2018 Florida gubernatorial campaign, Corcoran's Watchdog USA PAC ran an ad targeting so-called sanctuary cities.

[60] In August 2023, two days after the New College presidential search committee named Corcoran one of three finalists for the full-time position, news broke that a federal grand jury had begun investigating the Jefferson County bid-rigging scandal.

[61][62] The federal probe showed that state officials tasked with investigating the scandal had never interviewed anyone involved in it and never pulled records concerning the case.

His wife, Anne Corcoran, is active in the Barney Charter School Initiative affiliated with Hillsdale College.

[30][64] They have six children, who were homeschooled[3] and then attended Classical Prep in Spring Hill, Florida, which Anne Corcoran founded and where she acted as CEO.