Lincoln Davenport Chafee (1953)

Biography

 *  74th Governor of Rhode Island : 2011-2015
 *  Senator of Rhode Island : 1999-2007
 *  Mayor of Warwick RI : 1993-1999

Lincoln Davenport Chafee is an American politician from Rhode Island. He served as mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island from 1993 to 1999, as a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and as the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party, having previously been a Republican until 2007.

The son of Republican politician John Chafee, who served as 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 while serving in the United States Senate, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Almond appointed Lincoln Chafee to fill his father's seat in the U.S. Senate to which he was elected to a full term in 2000 as candidate of the Republican Party.

Chafee's tenure in the United States Senate was characterized by his support for fiscal and social policies that often opposed those promoted by the Republican Party. 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 2015, he sought nomination to be the Democratic candidate in the 2016 presidential election, but withdrew prior to the primaries.

Marriage and Family
Lincoln Chafee and his wife, Stephanie Birney (Danforth) Chafee, married in January 1990. They have three children: Louisa, Caleb, and Thea. Louisa qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in sailing.