Willard Mitt Romney born March 12, is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States senator from Utah from to and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from to He was the Republican Party 's nominee in the U. Mitt Romney is a son of George W. Romney , a former governor of Michigan. He married Ann Davies in ; they have five sons.
Active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints LDS Church throughout his adult life, Romney served as bishop of his ward and later as a stake president for an area covering Boston and many of its suburbs.
By , he had participated in the political campaigns of both his parents. As Bain's chief executive officer CEO , he helped lead the company out of a financial crisis. In , he co-founded and led the spin-off company Bain Capital , a private equity investment firm that became one of the largest of its kind in the nation. Senate in Massachusetts in and lost to the incumbent, Ted Kennedy. He then resumed his position at Bain Capital. Years later, a successful stint as president and CEO of the then-struggling Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics led to a relaunch of his political career.
Elected governor of Massachusetts in , Romney helped develop and later signed a health care reform law commonly called "Romneycare" that provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and individual mandates to purchase insurance. He did not seek reelection in , instead focusing on his campaign for the Republican nomination in the presidential election , which he lost to Senator John McCain.
Romney ran for president again four years later and was the Republican nominee in the presidential election , becoming the first LDS Church member to be a major party 's nominee. He lost the election to President Barack Obama. After reestablishing residency in Utah, Romney ran for U. Senate in When Romney won the Republican nomination and general election, he became the first person in modern American history to be elected governor and U.
