Rick Perry | |
---|---|
14th United States Secretary of Energy | |
Assumed office March 2, 2017 |
|
President | Donald Trump |
Preceded by | Ernest Moniz |
47th Governor of Texas | |
In office December 21, 2000 – January 20, 2015 |
|
Lieutenant |
Bill Ratliff David Dewhurst |
Preceded by | George W. Bush |
Succeeded by | Greg Abbott |
39th Lieutenant Governor of Texas | |
In office January 19, 1999 – December 21, 2000 |
|
Governor | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Bob Bullock |
Succeeded by | Bill Ratliff |
9th Agriculture Commissioner of Texas | |
In office January 15, 1991 – January 19, 1999 |
|
Governor |
Ann Richards George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Jim Hightower |
Succeeded by | Susan Combs |
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 64th district |
|
In office January 8, 1985 – January 8, 1991 |
|
Preceded by | Joe Hanna |
Succeeded by | John Cook |
Personal details | |
Born |
James Richard Perry March 4, 1950 Haskell, Texas, U.S. |
Political party |
Democratic (Before 1989) Republican (1989–present) |
Spouse(s) | Anita Thigpen (1982–present) |
Children | 2 |
Education | Texas A&M University, College Station (BS) |
Signature | |
Website | Official website |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Air Force |
Years of service | 1972–1977 |
Rank | Captain |
Unit | 772nd Tactical Airlift Squadron |
James Richard "Rick" Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who is the 14th and current United States Secretary of Energy, serving in the Trump Administration. Perry previously served as the 47th Governor of Texas from December 2000 to January 2015. A Republican, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was the longest-serving governor in Texas history.
Perry was elected three times to full gubernatorial terms and is the fourth Texas governor (after Allan Shivers, Price Daniel and John Connally) to serve three terms. With a tenure in office of 14 years, 30 days, Perry was, at the time he left office, the second longest-serving current U.S. governor (after Terry Branstad of Iowa). Perry ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2012 and 2016. On December 14, 2016, Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate the longtime Texas governor as his Secretary of Energy. On March 2, 2017, he was confirmed by the United States Senate in a 62–37 vote.
A fifth-generation Texan, Perry was born on March 4, 1950, in Haskell, Texas, and raised in nearby Paint Creek, in north-central Texas, the son of cotton farmers Joseph Ray Perry and Amelia June Holt Perry, and he has an older sister, Amelia Shaye "Milla" Perry Jones (born July 27, 1948). Perry's ancestry is almost entirely English, dating as far back as the original Thirteen Colonies. His family has been in Texas since before the Texas Revolution.