Lincoln Chafee (The More Things Changed)

Lincoln Davenport Chafee (/ˈtʃeɪfiː/; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician from Rhode Island, and the current United States Ambassador to the Organization of American States. He served as mayor of Warwick from 1993 to 1999, as a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and as the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2017. 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, when he formally announced his affiliation to the Democratic Party. He was re-elected in 2014 in a three-way contest.

In 2015, he sought nomination to be the Democratic candidate in the 2016 presidential election, and received His dovish candidacy, founded on the twin promises of "waging peace" and election reform, was supported by fervent grassroots support, making him a key figure in recent American populism. In 2016 Chafee formed a political organization, Not By a Mile, to educate voters about issues, get people involved in the political process, and work to organize and elect other pro-peace candidates.

On February 13th, 2017, Chafee was nominated by President Hillary Clinton to serve as Ambassador to the Organization of American States. On March 20th, formal diplomatic agreement to the appointment was received from the administration of OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.