Jack Stephens

From West Wing Wiki

Jack Warren Stephens (1944-) was the Governor of New York from 1991-2003.

Stephens was born and raised in Newark, Connecticut. In 1965, Stephens graduated from Columbia University and (having joined the R.O.T.C.) became a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. In 1971, Stephens transferred to the New York Air National Guard in which he served for almost twenty years.

In 1978, Stephens was elected to the New York State Senate. Stephens was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 and was re-elected in 1988. In 1990, Stephens won the Republican gubernatoral nomination in an upset and defeated Democrat incumbent Mario Cuomo by just 15,000 votes. During his first term, Stephens passed the largest tax cut in New Yorks history. Stephens enjoyed nearly universal popularity and was re-elected with 75% of the vote. During his second term Stephens passed a state laws tax amendment that abolished all state taxs exept the sales tax. In 1998, Stephens was re-elected with 72% of the vote. Stephens spent the better part of his third term preparing for a presidential run. In July 2001, Stephens launched his presidential campaign standing in front of the Statute of Liberty. Although Stephens was popular in the North-east he was unable to catch on with the conservate base of the party and only won four primaries, his home state of New York, his birth state of Connecticut, the neighbouring state of New Jersey and Rhode Island. Stephens departed the race after Super Tuesday. After leaving office in 2003, Stephens remained active in Republican politics and endorsed Arnold Vinick in 2006. Since 2006 he has been a close supporter of Vinick's former running mate-Ray Sullivan and is expected to play a role in his up-coming run for the Presidency in 2010.