Scott Kevin Walker (born November 2, 1967) is an American
Republican legislator and politician who is the
45th Governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected Governor in 2010 and was sworn in on January 3, 2011. Walker was re-elected to a second term on November 4, 2014.
Born in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, Walker attended
Marquette University in Milwaukee but did not graduate. He started his career working for
IBM before gaining a marketing job with the
American Red Cross. At age 22, Walker lost a run for the
Wisconsin State Assembly in a
Milwaukee district in 1990, which is the only competitive election (aside from a failed run for student president at
Marquette University) which Walker has lost in his career to date. He won his next bid for the Assembly after moving to a more conservative district in
Wauwatosa, and served four more terms in the Assembly (1993-2002). In 2002, after the resignation of
Tom Ament as Executive of
Milwaukee County, Walker won in a special election to fill the seat, winning the first of three terms serving as County Executive in Milwaukee County from 2002 to 2010.
In his first run for Governor in 2006 he dropped out before the Republican primaries. Walker again ran for the governorship in 2010, winning in a three-person race in the Republican primary. He faced
Democratic nominee,
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the
general election; Walker won with 52% of the vote. After being sworn into office in 2011, Walker introduced a controversial
budget repair plan which limited many
collective bargaining powers for most public employees. The legislation led to significant
protests at the
Wisconsin State Capitol and an effort to recall Walker. In June 2012, Walker again faced Barrett in Wisconsin's only
gubernatorial recall election. Walker defeated him for a second time, obtaining more votes than he had in the original race, with 53% of the vote. Walker is the only governor in the U.S. to date to win a gubernatorial recall election.
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