Lincoln Chafee

Lincoln Chafee For President
Lincoln Chafee For President
Campaign	Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Key people	Christopher S. Thrasher (Initial Campaign Director); Charles Peralo, Andrew Eichen, and Jacob Linker (Campaign Managers); Caswell Cooke Jr. (Treasurer)
Receipts	US$62,546
Slogan	Lead with Truth; Tell The Truth
Website
	www.lincolnchafee.com

Lincoln Chafee
Lincoln Chafee
	Official Senate portrait
74th Governor of Rhode Island
	In office; January 4, 2011 – January 6, 2015
Lieutenant	Elizabeth Roberts
Preceded by	Donald 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 (age 72); 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
	Lincoln Chafee's voice Chafee, while a U.S. senator, speaks in support of a PAYGO-related amendment to the FY2006 budget resolution; Recorded March 16, 2005

Lincoln Davenport Chafee (

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 2019, 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

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

Lincoln Davenport Chafee was born on March 26, 1953, in

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)

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]

United States Senate (1999–2007)

Elections

2000

After his father announced he would not seek re-election in 2000, Lincoln Chafee announced he would run for the seat.^[9] When John Chafee died suddenly in October 1999, Governor Lincoln Almond appointed the younger Chafee to serve out the term.

In the general election he faced the

U.S. Representative Robert Weygand

. Chafee won the election 57%–41%.

2006

In September 2005,

stem cell research. Laffey was supported by notable conservative groups, including the Club for Growth and several anti-abortion groups. Chafee went on to defeat Laffey in the primary on September 12 by a margin of 53%–47%. The turnout for the Republican primary was the largest in Rhode Island history. In his victory speech, Chafee credited independent voters and disaffiliated Democrats for his victory.^[10]

Chafee lost to Whitehouse in the general election, 54%–46%. In response to a question at a news conference on November 9, 2006, Chafee stated he was unsure whether he would remain in the Republican Party after serving out the remainder of his term. According to Michelle R. Smith of the Associated Press, when asked whether he felt that his loss may have helped the country by switching control of power in Congress (away from Republicans and toward the Democrats), he replied: "To be honest, yes."^[11]

Tenure

Descended from a long line of moderate, center-right New England Republicans, Chafee's stances became increasingly liberal, more so than his father's positions had been. The now dominant

Republican In Name Only", or RINO. Most notable among these was Human Events magazine, which named Chafee "the No. 1 RINO in the country."^[12] In 2006, the National Journal rated Chafee as the most liberal Republican in the Senate, and placed him to the left of two Democrats, Nebraska's Ben Nelson and Louisiana's Mary Landrieu.^[13] GovTrack also ranked Senator Chafee as the most liberal Republican member in 2006; according to GovTrack's analysis, Chafee was to the left of his Republican colleagues as well as to the left of fourteen Democrats.^[14]

Known for often disagreeing with the Republican Party leadership, Chafee says he did not cast his ballot for President

New Hampshire primary in 2004 on an anti- (Iraq and Afghanistan) war platform. In his autobiography, Against the Tide (2007), he states that "In the fall of 2003, part of me thought it was cowardly to oppose the president on so many issues and then not oppose him head-on as he sought renomination." However, he decided not to run after the capture of Saddam Hussein on December 13, 2003.^[18]

Fiscal policy

Chafee also voted against both the 2001 and 2003 congressional budget bills that cut and/or rebated individuals' federal income taxes. He asserted that tax cuts reduce revenue to the federal government, thereby worsening the federal budget deficit and increasing the amount of money it has to borrow in order to operate. In 2004, Chafee broke with his party again to oppose the acceleration of the Bush tax cuts. "Four Senate moderates -- John McCain of Arizona, Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island -- had insisted on attaching a provision that would have applied pay-as-you-go-rules for the next five years."^[19]

On November 17, 2005, he voted in favor of reinstating the top federal income tax rate of 39.6% (which last existed under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s) on the highest-income taxpayers.

In 2003, Chafee voted against the Medicare Part D prescription drug expansion. However, Chafee also cast a crucial procedural vote against a Democratic attempt to kill that bill, which failed by only two votes.^[20] Chafee also co-sponsored the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which expanded federal jurisdiction over class-action lawsuits, and voted against a wholesale ban on gifts from employees of lobbying companies.^[21]

The

Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)^[24] and bankruptcy reform

.

As U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, Chafee received grades of D in 2000, C− in 2001, C in 2002, C− in 2003 and 2004, and D in 2005 and 2006 from the National Taxpayers Union, a conservative taxpayers advocacy organization.^[25]

Environment

Chafee was one of the few Republicans to vote against allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and was a member of the Republicans for Environmental Protection. He has been endorsed throughout his career by the Sierra Club and the League of Conservative Voters as a strong leader for environmental causes, despite criticisms from other progressive activist groups decrying the endorsement of a (then) Republican.^[26]

Chafee sponsored the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002, enabling the clean up and redevelopment of thousands of abandoned urban buildings throughout the United States.^[27]

Social policy

Chafee was a member of the Republican Majority for Choice and Republicans for Choice. Chafee was also a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership.

Chafee is

NARAL Pro-Choice America. He also supported federal funding for embryonic stem cell

research.

In 2004, Chafee was one of six Republicans to vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment, an amendment intended to ban gay marriage; in 2006, he voted against banning gay marriage a second time.^[29]^[30] During his tenure, Chafee was the only sitting or former Republican senator to support the legalization of same-sex marriage, until Rob Portman of Ohio endorsed it in 2013.^[31]

He supported

dealers from being held liable for crimes committed with their products). On June 27, 2006, Chafee was one of only three Republicans to vote against the proposed Flag Desecration Amendment

.

Chafee opposes the

DNA analysis

a prerequisite for any federal-level, criminal executions.

On May 23, 2005, Chafee was one of

United States Supreme Court. However, he voted to end debate on the nomination, helping to end any chance of a Democratic filibuster of it.^[32] Chafee did not announce his opposition to the nomination until a majority of Senators had already publicly said they would support Alito.^[33]

Foreign policy

Chafee was the only Republican in the Senate to vote against authorization of

Kerry-Feingold amendment

calling for a binding timetable.

Chafee is now involved in

J Street, a liberal Jewish group that calls for Israel to withdraw from all occupied territories and advocates for a "two state" solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict

.

In November 2006, immediately following the midterm elections, Chafee joined key Democrats in opposing President Bush's renomination of

United States Ambassador to the United Nations

. On December 4, 2006, the White House announced that Bolton would no longer seek the appointment, and would resign within a matter of weeks.

Committee assignments

U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works^[35]

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs^[36]

Political hiatus (2007–2009)

In December 2006, Chafee announced he was accepting a fellowship to serve as a "distinguished visiting fellow" at Brown University's Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. The university had Chafee lead a student group studying U.S. foreign policy.^[37]

In September 2007, Chafee officially left the Republican Party, changing his affiliation to Independent. He said that he did so because of the Republican Party's drifting away from its core values, such as its abandoning fiscal conservatism. Citing the party's new tendency to pass tax cuts without spending cuts to balance the loss of revenue, he noted how the party was destroying social programs aimed to help middle-class and lower-income Americans, particularly

Head Start.^[38] In February 2008, he said he was considering voting for then-Senator Barack Obama in Rhode Island's Democratic presidential primary election.^[39] On February 14, 2008, with the Rhode Island Democratic primary approaching in three weeks, Chafee officially endorsed Obama.^[40] In 2012, he was one of 35 co-chairs selected to "act as key surrogates and ambassadors" for Obama's re-election campaign.^[41]

In 2008, Chafee joined the advisory board of

Palestinian state.^[42]

In September 2008, Chafee received media attention for describing

Governor of Alaska and the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the 2008 presidential election, as a "cocky wacko."^[43]

Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015)

2010 election

On January 4, 2010, Chafee formally declared his intention to run for Governor of Rhode Island in 2010 as an independent,

Cook Political Report, classified the race as a "toss-up".^[46] Chafee's approval rating at the time of his 2006 defeat was between 51% and 63%.^[47]^[48]

On September 16, 2010, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who had also switched from Republican to Independent to Democratic in recent years) traveled to Rhode Island. Bloomberg praised Chafee's "experience and integrity", saying that Chafee would put Rhode Islanders' interests "ahead of party interests", and that Chafee would "produce results -— because that's exactly what he did as a mayor and as senator."^[49]

It was reported that President Obama's lack of endorsement of any of the candidates indicated tacit support of Chafee over Democrat Caprio.^[50]

Chafee easily won the endorsements of all major public school teachers unions, including the Rhode Island affiliates of the National Education Association^[51] and American Federation of Teachers^[52] in his 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

On November 2, 2010, Chafee won the gubernatorial race, winning with a 36% plurality in the seven-candidate race.

Switch to the Democratic Party

In August 2012, he announced plans to attend the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, to show support for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.^[53] After constant speculation during his term, Chafee officially joined the Democratic Party on May 30, 2013.^[54] He had previously indicated that he might run for re-election as an Independent or a Democrat.^[55]

Recession

Chafee came to office in the depths of the worst recession in decades. Unemployment peaked at 11.4% in the first months of his tenure. Over his four budgets, July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2015, the rate dropped to 5.9%, second best in the country.

Chafee also inherited a crisis with impending bankruptcies of a number of municipalities including Providence, East Providence, Pawtucket, West Warwick and Woonsocket.

As a former mayor, Chafee was a strong advocate for the state's city and towns. He increased state aid and intervened to protect these distressed communities.^[56]

One city, Central Falls, did declare a bankruptcy. Chafee appointed a special master to run the city on an interim basis, negotiate concessions with labor and retirees, and pass a budget with tax increases. Central Falls emerged from bankruptcy the following year.

Fiscal issues

Chafee had campaigned on a platform that included lowering the state sales tax by creating a 1% tax on 59 tax exempt commodities and services. This would have squarely addressed the Rhode Island legislature annual budget deficit.

A 2012 poll showed that some of Chafee's proposed tax increases, intended to move the state from budget deficit to surplus status, had received negative feedback from Rhode Island residents. As Governor of Rhode Island, Chafee received grades of D in 2012^[57]^[58] and B in 2014^[59]^[60] from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, in their biennial Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors.

In two of his four budgets, there were no tax increases. At the same time, he restored 20% to local education and higher education, cut by his predecessor.^[61]

Social issues

In May 2012, Chafee refused on principle to release a prisoner charged with murder to federal custody because Rhode Island hadn't had an execution since 1842 and the US Attorney refused to guarantee the prisoner, if convicted would receive a maximum life imprisonment without parole. Chafee said: "The State of Rhode Island must seek to protect both the strong states' rights issues at stake, and the legitimacy of its longstanding public policy against the death penalty."^[62]

Chafee championed a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in Rhode Island,^[63] signing it into law on May 2, 2013.

Chafee has shown some willingness to deviate from strict "

War on Drugs" policies, in favor of alternative approaches to America's drug-crime problem.^[64]

Education

On "education reform" in general, Chafee does not believe the politically and publicly popular presumption that America's schools are failing, saying:

This notion of all these failing schools, if this were true, how did America get to be at the status where we are in the world if it were that bad? So I don't buy into the trashing of our public school system. Somehow Brown University, and University of Rhode Island and Bryant University, Providence College are full of public school students that are doing very, very well and leading America in many fields. Yes, there's room for improvement, I don't deny that and I want to be part of the improvement. But the notion that our public school systems are in disarray and failing, I don't buy that.^[65]

38 Studios

Chafee was the only public figure in Rhode Island to vigorously oppose an ill-fated deal in which the previous governor committed an unsecured $75 million loan to a former baseball star, Curt Schilling, to develop a new video game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The first payments started two months before he took office in January 2011.

The game was released in February 2012 to moderate critical success, but failed commercially. 38 Studios ended up laying off their staff and filed for bankruptcy. According to Schilling, Chafee's public comments calling the game a "failure" caused a publisher to pull out of a $35 million deal that could have paid for a sequel. In response, Chafee said he would need to "verify" Schilling's claim, saying that he couldn't "just take it as a leap of faith." He added that it "isn't accurate" to blame the state for the company's collapse.^[66]

As chair of the agency securing the loan, Chafee initiated a lawsuit to recover lost funds for Rhode Island taxpayers. To date, about $17 million has been recovered through settlements.

Christmas tree controversy

In 2011, Fox News and local conservatives and pundits stirred up controversy over the Christmas tree at the Rhode Island State House.^[67] Governor Chafee said he called the towering fir, decorated with lights, tinsel and toys, a "holiday tree," because that had been the accepted practice of the two previous governors, both Republicans. ^{[citation needed]} Chafee went on national TV with commentator Bill O'Reilly, calling Fox News' "war on Christmas" coverage "angry."^[68]

2014 election

Chafee had previously indicated that he might run for re-election as an Independent or a Democrat.^[55] With polling showing him trailing in the Democratic primary, Chafee announced on September 4, 2013, that he would not run for re-election.^[69]^[70] Chafee thus became just the fourth governor in the history of Rhode Island to decline to seek a second term, and the first since William S. Flynn in 1924.^[71]

2016 presidential campaign

On April 9, 2015, Chafee announced that he had formed an exploratory committee in preparation for a potential candidacy for President of the United States as a Democrat in 2016.^[72] He formally declared candidacy on June 3, 2015, with the campaign focused on ten stated issues with "Prosperity Through Peace" being his slogan.^[6]^[73]

Following a widely panned debate performance and poor polling numbers, Chafee announced on October 23, 2015, that he would be ending his campaign.^[74] After she secured the Democratic nomination, a Chafee spokesman said that he would support Hillary Clinton.^[75]

Subsequent activities

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 the National Popular Vote advisory board.^[80]

Chafee has endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 United States presidential election. Kennedy initially ran as a Democrat and later withdrew before the Democratic primaries began to run as an Independent.^[81]

2020 presidential campaign

In February 2017, Chafee had made it known that he was not ruling out another run for the presidency.^[82]

On March 11, 2019, Chafee officially switched from the Democratic to the Libertarian Party, stating, "It's what I've always been—fiscally conservative and socially liberal."^[83] In August, Chafee declared that he'd "be open" to running for president as a Libertarian.^[84]

On January 5, 2020, Chafee formally filed to run for the Libertarian Party nomination.^[85] He formally announced his candidacy on January 8 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.^[86]

Chafee's 2020 platform highlighted issues such as foreign intervention, the war on drugs, and government spending.

Larry Sharpe and national party chair Nicholas Sarwark were supportive of Chafee,^[84] others including the Rhode Island state chair Pat Ford were more skeptical due to his historical positions on gun control issues, among other things.^[88] According to The Providence Journal, Chafee hired Libertarian consultant Christopher Thrasher as campaign manager and selected Westerly Town Council member Caswell Cooke Jr. for the position of campaign treasurer.^[88]

On April 5, 2020, Chafee announced on Facebook that he was ending his campaign for the Libertarian presidential nomination. He did not make any endorsements for president.[89]

Political positions

While serving in the U.S. Senate, Chafee was characterized as a "

RINOs, or what they consider to be insufficiently conservative, in 2005.^[92] According to GovTrack, Chafee was the most liberal Republican Senator in 2006 being placed by GovTrack's analysis to the left of every Republican and several Democrats.^[93]

Later, as governor of Rhode Island, he pursued a centrist agenda that alienated special interests on both the left and right, "from unions to the state's Roman Catholic bishop." He has called for moderation and deescalation in U.S. foreign policy, combined with pragmatic fiscal conservatism, and liberal social policies.

Domestic policy

Abortion

Chafee has generally been considered

NARAL and previously served on that organization's national board. In 2015 Chafee said that he strongly supported "a woman's right to make her own personal reproductive decisions."^[95]

Chafee is the only governor to have vetoed a bill proposing the availability of

free speech and as having been influenced by his previous post on NARAL's board of directors.^[96]^[97]

Crime and civil rights

Chafee's policy on firearms regulation previously mirrored the views of his father,

Reason magazine, he cited “distrust in government” as the reason his position had evolved, and that he “believe[s] the authors of the Second Amendment wrote it with that in mind.” ^[99]

In 2011, as governor of Rhode Island, Chafee challenged an order of a federal court to transfer a prisoner in state custody to the United States government, because the prisoner in question might be subject to capital punishment, which Rhode Island had abolished. At the time, Chafee said, "my actions are motivated by my obligation as governor to safeguard Rhode Island's sovereignty and the integrity of its laws."[100]^[101]

Chafee has indicated he is receptive to the idea of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and in 2006 supported Rhode Island's legalization of medical marijuana.^[102] He has praised the Libertarian Party for its “enlightened approach to the corrosive and failed war on drugs.”^[103] In March 2020, after moving to Wyoming, Chafee testified in favour of a bill in the Wyoming House of Representatives that would have legalized and regulated marijuana usage in Wyoming.

In 2015 Chafee said he believed "certain of our rights have been wrongfully infringed upon. Particularly the Fourth Amendment which forbids the tapping of our phones without a warrant."

U.S. Department of Defense as enemy combatants.^[104]