Lincoln Chafee

Lincoln Chafee
Governor of Rhode Island
Incumbent
In office
January 4, 2011 - Present
Term ends
2014
Years in position	1
Party	Independent
Elections and appointments
First elected	November 2, 2010
Term limits	N/A
Prior offices
United States Senator
November 2, 1999 – January 3, 2007
Mayor of Warwick
1992-1999
Education
Bachelor's	Brown University
Personal
Birthday	March 26, 1953
Place of birth	Providence, RI
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Lincoln Chafee (b. March 26, 1953 in Providence, Rhode Island) is the Independent Governor of Rhode Island. He previously belonged to the Republican party, serving in the U.S. Senate for seven years. Initially appointed to his father seat upon the senior Senator Chafee's death in 1999, he won a six-year term in 2000. In 2006, he lost his seat to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. The following year, Chafee left the GOP.

Prior to his Senate term, Chafee was a delegate to Rhode Island's Constitutional Convention and a member of the City Council of Warwick, Rhode Island. From there, he was elected as the Mayor of Warwick.

Biography

Chafee is a Rhode Island native, growing up in one of the state's political families. As an undergraduate he studied Classics as well as captaining the wrestling team. After undergraduate work. he studied at the Montana State University horseshoeing school in Bozeman, Montana and spent seven years working as a farrier at racetracks in the U.S. and Canada.

He entered politics in 1985 when he was a delegate to Rhode Island's Constitutional Convention. The next year, he won election to Warwick's City Council. In 1992, he became the city's Mayor, a post he held until his Senate appointment in 1999.

Following the end of his Senate career, Chafee accepted a post as a distinguished visiting fellow at Brown University's Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies, where he worked with undergraduates studying America's foreign policy until his January 2010 announcement of his candidacy for the governorship.

Education

• Montana State University
• B.A., Brown University
• Phillips Academy

Political career

Governor (2011-present)

Pension reform

Chafee played a major role in overhauling the state's employee pension system. In 2011, Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo (D) ordered new estimates of the state's pension liability. Finding that the liability increased from $4.9 billion to $7.3 billion, Raimondo pushed the issue to the top of the agenda. Raimondo and Chafee introduced a complicated plan to deal with the issue, which met with bipartisan support in both chambers and was passed in November 2011.

Elections

2010

See also: Rhode Island gubernatorial election, 2010 and Gubernatorial elections, 2010

Chafee faced Frank T. Caprio (D), John F. Robitaille (R), Ken Block (Moderate), Ronald Algieri (I), Todd Giroux (I), and Joseph M. Lusi (I) in the general election on November 2, 2010.

Campaign donors

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. The following table offers a breakdown of Lincoln Chafee's donors each year. Click [show] for more information.

Lincoln Chafee's Campaign Contributions
	2010 Governor of Rhode Island
Total Raised	$2,630,916
Total Raised by General Election Opponent	$1,790,833 (Rep); $629,803 (Dem)
Top 5 contributors	Lincoln Chafee	$1,600
	Rhode Island Education Association	$3,000
	Elizabeth Bodell	$2,000
	Grace Vincent	$2,000
	Jonathan Nelson	$2,000
Individuals	$906,427
Institutions	$43,775
In-state donations	$2,362,735
Out-of-state donations	$199,577

See also

• Governor of Rhode Island
• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island
• Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth H. Roberts

External links

Suggest a link

• Lincoln Chafee for Governor campaign website
• Project Vote Smart biography
• Lincoln Chafee on Facebook
• Lincoln Chafee on Twitter
• Lincoln Chafee on YouTube