Timothy James Pawlenty ( ; born November 27, 1960) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 39th governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003, and as House Majority Leader from 1999 to 2003. He unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2012 presidential election. Pawlenty's 2006 reelection is the last time a Republican was elected to statewide office in Minnesota.
Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and raised in nearby South St. Paul. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, becoming a labor law attorney and the vice president of software company. In 1992 he was elected to represent District 38B, a district in suburban Dakota County, in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He was reelected four times and was elected majority leader in 1998.
After securing the Republican endorsement, Pawlenty won the three-way 2002 Minnesota gubernatorial election. He campaigned under a conservative platform with a pledge not to raise taxes. Upon entering office, he was faced with fixing Minnesota's large budget deficit. He worked to lower the state's deficit by cutting funds from state programs. To avoid raising taxes, he also instituted "user fees". He was reelected in 2006 by a margin of less than one percent. Although Pawlenty eliminated the budget deficit in his first term, the deficit returned as a result of the Great Recession in 2007. The effectiveness of Pawlenty's economic policy as governor is disputed.
As governor, Pawlenty also reformed Minnesota's education system, passed a concealed carry law, and codified a 24-hour wait period before receiving an abortion. His administration advocated for numerous notable public works projects, including the construction of the Northstar Commuter Rail Line and Target Field. From 2007 to 2008, Pawlenty chaired the National Governors Association.
Pawlenty was rumored to be a contender for both the Republican presidential and vice-presidential nominations in the 2008 presidential election. He went on to co-chair John McCain's unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. Pawlenty ran for president in the 2012 Republican presidential primary. His campaign fell short of expectations by failing to gain traction. It lasted from May to August 2011. After withdrawing from the race, Pawlenty became a finalist to join Mitt Romney on the 2012 ticket as the vice presidential candidate. He was not selected, but he served as co-chair of Romney's campaign until his departure two months before the election.
Pawlenty sought a third term as governor of Minnesota in the 2018 election with Michelle Fischbach as his running mate. He lost the Republican primary to Jeff Johnson.
Early life, education, and early career
Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Eugene Joseph Pawlenty, and his wife, Virginia Frances (née Oldenburg). His father, who drove a milk delivery truck, was of Polish descent, while his mother was of German ancestry. She died of cancer when he was 16. Pawlenty grew up in South St. Paul, where he played ice hockey on his high school's junior varsity squad.
Intending to become a dentist, Pawlenty enrolled in the University of Minnesota, the only one in his family to go beyond high school. But he changed his plans and spent the summers of 1980 and 1982 working as an intern at the office of U.S. Senator David Durenberger. In 1983, he graduated with a B.A. in political science. He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1986. There, he met his wife, Mary Anderson, whom he married in 1987.
Pawlenty first worked as a labor law attorney at the firm Rider Bennett (formerly Rider, Bennett, Egan & Arundel), where he had interned while a law student. He later became vice president of a software as a service company, Wizmo Inc.
Having moved to Eagan, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission by Mayor Vic Ellison. One year later, at age 28, he was elected to the City Council.
Pawlenty entered state politics in 1990 as a campaign advisor for Jon Grunseth's campaign for governor. After becoming engulfed in a scandal, Grunseth dropped out of the race just weeks before the general election. After Pawlenty himself became governor, he appointed Grunseth's ex-wife, Vicky Tigwell, to the board of the Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport, which was called out as an ethics and accountability issue in 2003.