Lincoln Chafee | |
|---|---|
 Official Senate portrait | |
| 74th Governor of Rhode Island | |
| In office January 4, 2011 – January 6, 2015 | |
| Lieutenant | Elizabeth Roberts |
| Preceded by | Don Carcieri |
| Succeeded by | Gina Raimondo |
| United States Senator from Rhode Island | |
| In office November 2, 1999 – January 3, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | John Chafee |
| Succeeded by | Sheldon Whitehouse |
| Mayor of Warwick | |
| In office January 1, 1993 – November 1, 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Donovan |
| Succeeded by | Scott Avedisian |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lincoln Davenport Chafee March 26, 1953 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Political party | Libertarian (2019–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Republican (1971–2007) Independent (2007–2013) Democratic (2013–2019) |
| Spouse |
Stephanie Birney Danforth
(m. 1990) |
| Children | 3, including Louisa |
| Residence(s) | Teton Village, Wyoming, U.S. |
| Education | Brown University (BA) |
| Website | Campaign website |
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|---|---|---|
Presidential campaigns
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Lincoln Davenport Chafee (/ˈtʃeɪfiː/ CHAY-fee; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a Democrat from 2013 to 2019; in June 2019, The Boston Globe reported that he became a Libertarian,[1][2] having previously been a Republican until September 2007 and an independent and then a Democrat in the interim. He is the last non-Democrat to hold statewide and/or Congressional office in Rhode Island.
The son of Republican politician John Chafee, who was the 66th Governor of Rhode Island, the United States Secretary of the Navy, and a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee's first elected office was as a member of the Warwick City Council in 1985. After John Chafee died in 1999, Lincoln Chafee was appointed to fill his father's seat in the U.S. Senate to which he won a full term in 2000.
Chafee was the only Republican in the Senate to vote against authorization of the use of force in Iraq in the lead-up to the Iraq War. He was defeated in his 2006 reelection bid by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. Chafee subsequently shifted his affiliation towards the Democratic Party by first endorsing Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, running as an independent for Governor of Rhode Island in 2010, serving as the co-chair of Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, and then finally officially switching his registration to the Democratic Party in May 2013. In March 2019, he switched his political affiliation again to the Libertarian Party.
In 2015, he sought nomination to become the Democratic Party candidate in the 2016 presidential election, but withdrew prior to the primaries. In January 2020, Chafee filed to run again for president, this time seeking the Libertarian nomination. Chafee withdrew his candidacy on April 5, 2020, and announced he would instead focus on helping "other Libertarians seeking office."
- ^ "Ex-RI Politician Changes Political Parties – Again". NECN. June 6, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Edward (June 4, 2019). "Make that four political parties for Lincoln Chafee". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 5, 2019.