Lincoln Chafee
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 member of the Democratic Party from 2013 to 2019; in June 2019, The Boston Globe reported that he had become a registered Libertarian,[1][2] having previously been a Republican until September 2007 and an independent and then a Democrat in the interim.
Lincoln Chafee
Charles Donovan
Libertarian (2019–present)
Republican (through mid-2007)
Independent (2007–2013)
Democratic (2013–2019)
3, including Louisa
Teton Village, Wyoming, U.S.
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 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 won a full term in 2000 as candidate of the Republican Party. He is the last non-Democrat to hold statewide and/or Congressional office in Rhode Island.
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."
Early life, education and career[edit]
Lincoln Davenport Chafee was born on March 26, 1953, in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Virginia (née Coates) and John Chafee.[3] Chafee's great-great-grandfather Henry Lippitt was Governor of Rhode Island. Among his great-great-uncles are Rhode Island Governor Charles Warren Lippitt and United States Senator Henry Frederick Lippitt. His great-uncle Zechariah Chafee was a Harvard law professor and a notable civil libertarian. The Chafee family was among the earliest settlers of Hingham, Massachusetts, before moving south to Rhode Island.[4]
He attended public schools in Warwick, Rhode Island, Providence Country Day School, as well as later, Phillips Academy. At Brown University, Chafee captained the wrestling team, and in 1975 earned a Bachelor of Arts in classics. He then attended Montana State University's non-degree Farrier School (a sixteen-week horseshoeing program) in Bozeman. For the next seven years, he worked as a farrier at harness racetracks in the United States and Canada. One of the horses he shod, Overburden, set the track record at Northlands Park in Edmonton.[5] In describing how his time as a farrier affected him, Chafee stated that "when you're around horses, you tend to be a quieter person."[6]
Local politics (1985–1999)[edit]
Chafee entered politics in 1985, when he was elected over eight other candidates to become delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. A year later, he was elected to the Warwick City Council, defeating an incumbent, and re-elected in 1988. He ran for Warwick Mayor in 1990, losing by 5 percent in a three-way race.
In 1992, he was elected Warwick's first Republican mayor in 32 years, and was re-elected in 1994, 1996, and 1998, when he won by 17% and carried all nine wards.
Chafee was praised for his fair-minded and sensible approach to government, including his ability to work with seven Democrats (of nine seats) on the Warwick City Council. He conservatively managed the city's finances, strengthening the city's bond rating and paying down the outstanding pension liability.
He worked effectively and cooperatively with the municipal unions, especially in settling a difficult and prolonged teacher labor dispute that he inherited from the previous administration.[7]
As mayor, Chafee made conservation, environmental protection, and wise growth a priority. He purchased 130 acres of open space, planted hundreds of street trees, and created new historic districts and a new economic development "intermodal" district at the state airport. His municipal composting and recycling initiatives dramatically decreased landfill waste. His "Greenwich Bay Initiative", which extended sewer service to the most environmentally-sensitive areas of the city, earned Warwick recognition by EPA as one of the best local watershed programs in the nation.[8]
Subsequent activities[edit]
Chafee considered challenging Sheldon Whitehouse for his former Senate seat in 2018, but ultimately decided against doing so.[76][77]
Between 2018 and 2019, Chafee and his family moved their residency to Wyoming.[78] By 2018, Chaffee's wife Stefanie had registered as a voter in Teton Village, Wyoming.[78] Chafee completed his move to Wyoming in 2019.[79]
In 2020, Chafee joined the Libertarians for National Popular Vote advisory board.[80]
Chafee supported the 2024 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who initially ran as a Democrat and later as an Independent.[81]
Lincoln Chafee For President
Lincoln Chafee
Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015)
U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (1999–2007)
Mayor of Warwick (1993–1999)
January 8, 2020
April 5, 2020
Christopher S. Thrasher (Initial Campaign Director)
Charles Peralo, Andrew Eichen, and Jacob Linker (Campaign Managers)
Caswell Cooke Jr. (Treasurer)
US$62,546
Lead with Truth
Tell The Truth
Personal life[edit]
Chafee and his wife, Stephanie Birney (Danforth) Chafee, married in January 1990.[133] They have three children: Louisa, Caleb, and Thea. Louisa qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in sailing.[134] He is a member of The Episcopal Church.[135][136] As of 2019, he lives in Teton Village, Wyoming.[137]