Sunday, November 9, 2014

Meet the New Governors

Thirty-six states held gubernatorial elections on Nov. 4, 2014. Republicans incumbents held on in tight races in Florida, Kansas, Maine, Michigan and Wisconsin. The GOP picked up open seats held by Democrats in Maryland, Arkansas and Massachusetts, and Republican Bruce Rauner ousted Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in Illinois. In Pennsylvania, Democrat Tom Wolf defeated Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. Gubernatorial races in Vermont and Alaska are still up in the air. Here are the incoming governors for 2015:
Greg Abbott: Texas Republican
An oft-repeated adage on the campaign trail by Texas governor-elect Greg Abbott was that he wakes up each morning, sues the federal government and then returns home.
It's not much of a stretch. As Texas attorney general, Abbott filed more than 30 lawsuits against the Obama administration —against the Affordable Care Act, against environmental regulations, against various others alleged federal overreaches. Abbott, a Republican, fought the Affordable Care Act all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Backed by that staunch conservative résumé, Abbott, 56, extends Texas' streak of Republican governors that stretches back to 1995. His anti-Obama stance appealed to many voters in still stoutly red Texas. His war chest proved that appeal, with more than $36 million in total contributions, more than any other candidate. He used part of that money to buy more than 250 hours in TV ad time — more than all statewide candidates combined.
Born in Wichita Falls, Abbott earned degrees from the University of Texas and Vanderbilt University Law School. Shortly after law school, he was jogging through an upscale Houston neighborhood in 1984 when a decayed oak tree fell on his back, crushing his spine and confining him to a wheelchair for life.
Abbott won a multimillion-dollar settlement from the tree's owner and a tree inspection company — a victory Democratic strategists later denounced when Abbott supported Republican-backed measures restricting lawsuits.
That issue became a national debate late in the campaign when Abbott's opponent, Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis, released an ad criticizing Abbot for blocking benefits for other people with disabilities after he won his payout. Republicans argued that the ad was unfair, and even some Democrats raised questions about attacking Abbott on disability issues.
Abbott served on the Texas Supreme Court and as a state district judge in Harris County. But he became a household name as attorney general, a position he held for three consecutive terms, making him the longest-serving attorney general in state history. Besides fighting Obama's laws, he filed motions defending Texas' voter ID and abortion-restrictions laws.
Abbott replaces Gov. Rick Perry, another strident conservative, though some analysts say Abbott's policies could shift Texas even further to the right, a prospect that rattles Democrats both in and out of the state. In a profile last year, left-leaning Mother Jones magazine led a profile of Abbott with the headline: "Meet Greg Abbott, the Man Who May Make You Miss Rick Perry."
— Rick Jervis
Charlie Baker: Massachusetts Republican
Charlie Baker has succeeded in his second attempt to become governor of Massachusetts.
Baker tried and failed to unseat current Gov. Deval Patrick four years ago. He credited the loss to an angry public image, which he worked to rectify this election season — going as far as to call a female reporter "sweetheart."
Now as the first Republican gubernatorial candidate endorsed by The Boston Globe in 20 years, Baker celebrates his victory in the traditionally blue state.
Endorsed by big-name Republicans such as former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Baker enjoyed a significant fundraising advantage over Democratic opponent Martha Coakley this election season. According to their campaigns, Baker's account contained $1.5 million in mid-October, while Coakley's contained about $300,000.
A former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Baker served in the administrations of two former Republican governors, first as Health and Human Services director under Bill Weld and again as secretary of Administration and Finance under Weld and his successor, Paul Celluci. His leadership won him the Distinguished Service Award granted by the National Governors Association in 1998.
Baker has said he plans to use his experience to keep taxes low and make the state government more efficient, especially in the face of recent bureaucratic failures like that of the state's Department of Children and Families, whose audit this year revealed more than two dozen sex offenders living at the same addresses as children under the program's care.
As a progressive Republican, Baker separates himself from the mainstream Republican Party on social issues as a supporter of gay rights and abortion rights.
Born in Needham, Baker, 57, graduated from Harvard College before going on to earn an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He and his wife, Lauren, live in Swampscott with their three children.
— Eleanor Mueller
Meet the rest of the Governors HERE.

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