Timothy James Pawlenty (/pəˈlɛnti/; 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. As of 2023, he is the most recent Republican to serve as governor of Minnesota, and his 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. (Source: Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA)