Lincoln Chafee Presidential Campaign, 2016 (The More Things Changed)

The 2016 presidential campaign of Lincoln Chafee, the 74th Governor of Rhode Island, former United States Senator from Rhode Island, and former Mayor of Warwick was formally launched on June 3, 2015 at a speech at the George Mason Center for Politics & Foreign Relations. His campaign marked the first time a candidate from Rhode Island had sought the nomination of a major party.

Background
Chafee's father, John Chafee, was the senior United States Senator from Rhode Island, who had intended to retire, and not seek reelection in 2000; Lincoln had intended to run to win his father's seat the same year. On October 24, 1999, however, John Chafee died, and Republican Governor Lincoln Almond appointed his son to fill the vacancy of his father. Due to the proximity between his appointment and the scheduled election in 2000, no special election was called. Chafee was elected to his seat outright with a 57% majority against his Democratic opponent, U.S. Representative Robert Weygand.

Chafee was seen as the most liberal Senator of his party, and faced a tough primary battle against Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey in 2006, which he won by a 55 to 45 percent margin. His battle with Laffey in the primary excessively drained his campaign funds. Chafee lost to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, one of six Republican seats lost when Democrats regained their majority in the midterm elections of 2006.

After his Senate loss, Chafee left the Republican Party, saying, "it's not my party anymore". After a hiatus following his loss, he announced his candidacy for Governor of Rhode Island; in a seven-way race, Chafee won the governorship with 36 percent of the vote. Having previously indicated the possibility that he might run for re-election for Governor as a Democrat, Chafee officially joined the Democratic Party in February 2012, shortly after being named of of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign co-chairs.

He chose to run for re-election in 2014, and faced a tough primary fight against Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. After winning the primary, he won the general election with just over 40% of the vote against the Republican nominee, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, and Moderate Party nominee Robert J. Healy.

U.S. Representatives
David Cicilline, Rhode Island

DNC Members
Debra DeLee (Chair, 1994-1995)

Organizations
Peace Action

Mayday PAC

Honesty PAC

Individuals
Sidney Drell, physicist

Scott Sagan, political scientist

Franklin M. Fischer, economist