Nelson Gerard Gross (January 9, 1932 – September 17, 1997) was an American Republican Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly and as Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee.
 His political career ended in 1974 when he was convicted on federal charges involving the 1969 campaign of Governor William T. Cahill.
 After his prison term he went on to a lucrative business career as a real estate developer and restaurateur, before being kidnapped and murdered in September 1997.
George Scott Romney (born June 7, 1941) is an American Republican politician and lawyer in the state of Michigan.
 He formerly sat on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees.
 A member of the Pratt-Romney family—a well-known political family in Michigan—he is the son of former Michigan Governor George W. Romney and brother of the former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
 He goes by the name of "Scott" in order to distinguish himself from his father.
Michael Clifton Burgess (born December 23, 1950) is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives representing  's 26 congressional district .
 In 2002, he defeated Scott Armey, the son of House Majority Leader and then-U.S. Representative Dick Armey, in a primary runoff election.
 Prior to his election, he practiced as a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology.
Christine "Christie" Todd Whitman (born September 26, 1946) is an American Republican politician and author who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, and was the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003.
 She was New Jersey's first and, to date, only female governor.
 She was the second woman and first Republican woman to defeat an incumbent governor in a general election in the United States.
 She was also the first Republican woman to be reelected governor.
Richard Keith Armey ( ; born July 7, 1940) is an American politician.
 He was a U.S. Representative from Texas'  (1985–2003) and House Majority Leader (1995–2003).
 He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades.
 Armey was one of the chief authors of the Contract with America.
 Armey is also an author and former economics professor.
 After his retirement from Congress, he has worked as a consultant, advisor, and lobbyist.
William J. Maguire (June 12, 1916 – October 2, 1997) was an American Republican Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1976 to 1982.
 He served as Mayor of Clark, New Jersey and as a Union County Freeholder.
 Maguire was elected to the State Assembly in 1975, running with future Governor Donald DiFrancesco; they defeated incumbent Democrat Betty Wilson and her running mate, William A. Wolf, the Rahway Democratic Municipal Chairman.
 He was re-elected in 1977.
 Following the resignation of State Senator Peter J. McDonough in 1979, Maguire ran for the State Senate, but lost a vote of a Republican convention to DiFrancesco.
 He was re-elected to the Assembly, with future Congressman Bob Franks as his running mate.
 Maguire's political career came to an end in 1981, when redistricting traded Democratic towns in Union County for solid Republican towns in Essex County.
 DiFrancesco was facing a primary challenge from an Essex County Republican; to secure the Essex organization line in a district where Republican primary election voters were evenly split between Essex and Union, DiFrancesco agreed to put an Essex Republican on his ticket.
 John Renna, the Essex Republican Chairman, preferred that Franks (who had worked on Renna's 1977 bid for County Chairman), get the second Assembly seat.
 Maguire, replaced by Millburn Mayor Maureen Ogden, did not run for re-election.
Stephen Michael Largent (born September 28, 1954) is a retired American football player, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and a former Republican politician, having served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Oklahoma, from 1994 until 2002.
 Prior to his political career, Largent was a wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League for his entire 14-season professional football career.
 He held several all-time receiving records when he retired.
William Thad Cochran (born December 7, 1937) is an American Republican politician.
 He is the current senior United States Senator from Mississippi (the third most-senior Senator and the second most-senior Republican member), first elected to the Senate in 1978, and the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he had also chaired from 2005 to 2007.
 He also chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee from 2003 to 2005.
 Cochran won reelection to a seventh term in 2014, after defeating Chris McDaniel in an intense primary run-off election.
 He is currently the dean of the Mississippi congressional delegation.
 He is also on track to become the longest serving Republican Member of Congress if he serves until 2019, surpassing Joseph Gurney Cannon, former Speaker of the House, who served for 46 years.
Keith Harvey Miller (born March 1, 1925) is an American Republican politician from Alaska.
 Miller was the second Secretary of State of Alaska of Alaska under Walter Hickel from 1966 until Hickel's resignation to become United States Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Richard M. Nixon, on January 29, 1969, after which he succeeded to the office as the third Governor, serving until December 5, 1970.
Florence Price "Flo" Dwyer (July 4, 1902 – February 29, 1976), born Florence Louise Price in Reading, Pennsylvania, was an American Republican Party politician and U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 6th and 12th Congressional Districts.
 She was the second woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey, the first being Mary Teresa Norton, who was also elected from the 12th district.
 She was the first woman from New Jersey to be elected to the House as a Republican.
 Dwyer was an advocate for women's rights throughout her political career.

Question: Which American Republican politician began their political career first: Michael Clifton Burgess or Richard Keith Armey?
Answer: Richard Keith Armey