Deval Patrick

Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was the first African-American governor of Massachusetts and the first Democratic governor of the state since Michael Dukakis left office in 1991. Patrick served from 1994 to 1997 as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division under President Bill Clinton. He was briefly a candidate for President of the United States in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Patrick earned a scholarship to Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, in the eighth grade. He went on to attend Harvard College and Harvard Law School. After graduating, he practiced law with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and later joined a Boston law firm, where he was later named a partner. In 1994, Bill Clinton appointed him as the United States assistant attorney general for the civil rights division of the United States Department of Justice, where he worked on issues including racial profiling and police misconduct. He was first elected governor in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who chose not to run for reelection, and was reelected in 2010.