Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 2012 presidential election.

The youngest child of former Michigan governor and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary George W. Romney, Romney served as a missionary in France for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). After earning joint JD–MBA degrees from Harvard University in 1975, Romney moved to Boston and joined Bain & Company in 1977, later becoming its chief executive officer. In 1984 he co-founded Bain Capital, which grew into one of the nation's largest private equity firms.

Romney ran as the Republican nominee in the 1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, losing to Democratic incumbent Ted Kennedy. Subsequently, he resumed his position at Bain Capital and later moved to Utah, where a successful stint as president and CEO of the then-struggling 2002 Winter Olympics led to the relaunch of Romney's political career. He subsequently won the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial election. As governor, Romney helped develop and later signed a health care reform law (commonly referred to as "Romneycare") that provided near-universal health insurance access and presided over the prevention of a projected $1.2–1.5 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts and the cessation of corporate tax loopholes.

Romney did not seek reelection as governor in 2006 and instead sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, which he lost to Senator John McCain. He won the nomination for the next presidential election, choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate. He lost the general election to incumbent President Barack Obama. After reestablishing residency in Utah, Romney successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2018, becoming the first person in modern U.S. history to be elected governor and U.S. senator of different states.