Tom Corbett

Thomas Wingett Corbett Jr. (born June 17, 1949) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 46th governor of Pennsylvania from January 18, 2011 to January 20, 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Born in Philadelphia, Corbett is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College and St. Mary's University School of Law and served as a captain in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Corbett began his career as an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in 1976. Corbett then joined the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, serving from 1980 to 1983, upon entering private practice. In 1988 Corbett was first elected to public office as a Commissioner in the Pittsburgh suburb of Shaler, before serving as the United States Attorney for Western Pennsylvania from 1989 to 1993 in the George H. W. Bush administration. In 1995, Corbett was appointed to fill the remainder of Ernie Preate's term as Attorney General of Pennsylvania, until 1997. Corbett then reentered private practice and worked as the general counsel for Waste Management, Inc before being elected Attorney General of Pennsylvania in 2004. Corbett was then elected to a second term in 2008, serving a total of two non-consecutive tenures as attorney general from 1995 to 1997, and 2005 to 2011. Corbett declared his candidacy for governor in March 2009. He won the Republican nomination and defeated Democratic nominee Dan Onorato, with 54.5% of the vote in the 2010 general election. He was sworn into office on January 18, 2011. On November 8, 2013 he announced his intention to run for a second term as the state's chief executive. Corbett lost his bid for a second term to Democrat Tom Wolf in the November 4, 2014 general election. This election marked the first time an incumbent Governor running for re-election in Pennsylvania lost since William Bigler in 1854.