The Tanner Lecture Series on Ethics, Citizenship, and Public Responsibility

"Civility and Citizenship:  Reinventing The Great Society"

Since 2011, Lincoln Chafee has served as the Governor of Rhode Island.  From 1999 to 2007, he served in the U.S. Senate.  Prior to the Senate, he served on the Warwick City Council, and as the City’s Mayor.  As Governor, Chafee has wrestled with an inherited financial crisis, and has focused his efforts on education and workforce revitalization.  He also signed a marriage equality act, pushed forward health care reform, and initiated green projects.  

 

Politically, Governor Chafee has been literally at the center of the issue of polarization.  A centrist Republican and the descendent of a long line of prominent Republicans, Chafee left the Republican Party in 2007.  He was elected Governor as an independent.  In May 2013, he became a Democrat, and in September he announced that he would not seek re-election as Governor.