[2][3] Herger was raised on his family's 200-acre (0.81 km2) cattle ranch and plum farm in the northern California town of Rio Oso (between Yuba City and Sacramento).

[7] In 2010, Herger faced a Republican primary challenge from retired Colonel Pete Stiglich, and ran in the general against Democrat Jim Reed, a lawyer who divides his time between the Bay Area and Fall River.

[citation needed] Herger served on the influential United States House Committee on Ways and Means since his tenure began as a federal representative.

This bill gave additional financial incentives to law enforcement agencies that identified fraudulent recipients of aid.

[4][8] On August 18, 2009, Herger triggered controversy when he attended a town hall meeting in Redding, California, where an audience member introduced himself as a "proud right-wing terrorist"[9] The person admitted to reporters in a private interview ten days later, after the controversy had reached national attention, that he had misspoken, having intended to say "extremist".

He worked on the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act, which instituted a framework for managing federal forest assets that will be tested on federal lands in Lassen, Plumas, and Tehama counties, and has been negotiated by a diverse coalition that includes environmental and logging interests.

[11] Congressmen Herger and Meek (D-FL) drafted a bill to repeal the three percent withholding tax scheduled to begin in 2011.

(Counties assess costs of federal '3-percent withholding law')[12][13][14] Herger is married to Pamela Sargent, with whom he has 9 children and 19 grandchildren.

[citation needed] He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and used to sit on the United States House Committee on Ways and Means.