Mike Huckabee

Huckabee was born on August 24, 1955, in Hope, Arkansas, the son of Dorsey Wiles Huckabee (1923–1996) and his wife Mae (Elder) Huckabee (1925–1999), conservative Southern Democrats. Huckabee is of English, German, and Scots-Irish ancestry, with roots in America dating to the Colonial Era. He has cited his working-class upbringing as the reason for his political views; his father worked as a fireman and mechanic, and his mother worked as a clerk at a gas company.

His first job, when he was 14, was at a radio station, where he read the news and weather. He was elected governor of Arkansas by his chapter of the American Legion-sponsored Boys State program in 1972. He was student council vice president at Hope High School during the 1971–72 school year. He was student council president at Hope High School during the 1972–73 school year. He has one sister, Pat Harris, a middle school teacher. He entered the ministry in 1972 at Garrett Memorial Baptist Church in Hope.

Huckabee married Janet McCain on May 25, 1974. He graduated from Ouachita Baptist University on May 8, 1978, completing his bachelor's degree in religion before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He dropped out of the seminary after one year in order to take a job in Christian broadcasting.

In 1989, Huckabee ran against Ronnie Floyd of Springdale for the presidency of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Huckabee won and served as president from 1989 to 1991.

Huckabee has received two honorary doctorates: a Doctor of Humane Letters, received from John Brown University in 1991, and a Doctor of Laws from Ouachita Baptist University in 1992.

In Huckabee's first political race in 1992, he lost to incumbent Democratic senator Dale Bumpers, receiving 40 percent of the vote in the general election. In the same election, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton was elected president, making lieutenant governor Jim Guy Tucker the new governor when Clinton resigned the governorship. In 1993, Republican state chairman Asa Hutchinson urged Huckabee to run in the special election for lieutenant governor held on July 27. Realizing his loss came among key conservative Democrats, Huckabee ran a decidedly conservative campaign. In the subsequent general election, he defeated Nate Coulter, who had been Bumpers's campaign manager the previous year, 51–49 percent. Huckabee became the second Republican since Reconstruction to serve as Arkansas lieutenant governor, the first having been Maurice Britt from 1967 to 1971.

Dick Morris, who had previously worked for Bill Clinton, advised Huckabee on his races in 1993, 1994, and 1998. Huckabee commented that Morris was a "personal friend". A newspaper article reported on Huckabee's 1993 win: "Morris said the mistake Republicans always make is that they are too much of a country club set. What we wanted to do was run a progressive campaign that would appeal to all Arkansans.'"

Morris elaborated, "So we opened the campaign with ads that characterized Mike as more of a moderate whose values were the same as those of other Arkansans." Consequently, he abandoned his earlier support for the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) when in April 1994 following an adverse media campaign against the CofCC, Huckabee withdrew from a speaking engagement before their national convention. He repeated the accusations made by various media and civil rights organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center recalling his past association with the CofCC saying, "I will not participate in any program that has racist overtones. I've spent a lifetime fighting [against] racism and anti-Semitism."

In 1994 Huckabee was re-elected to a full term as lieutenant governor, beating Democratic candidate Charlie Cole Chaffin with nearly 59 percent of the vote. While lieutenant governor, Huckabee accepted $71,500 in speaking fees and traveling expenses from a nonprofit group, Action America. R. J. Reynolds was the group's largest contributor.

In October 1995, David Pryor announced that he was retiring from the United States Senate. Huckabee then announced he was running for the open seat and moved ahead in the polls, but ultimately dropped out of the race to lead the state after incumbent governor Jim Guy Tucker resigned following his fraud and conspiracy convictions.

During his campaign, Huckabee opposed in December then-governor Tucker's plan for a constitutional convention. The plan was defeated by voters, 80–20 percent, in a special election. In January 1996, Huckabee campaigned in televised ads paid for by the Republican National Committee and the Arkansas Republican Party against a highway referendum. Tucker supported the referendum, which included tax increases and a bond program, to improve 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of highway. On the referendum, the bond question, which included a sales tax increase and a gas tax increase, lost 87–13 percent. A second question, a five-cent increase on diesel tax, lost 86–14 percent. Huckabee also opposed Tucker's plan for school consolidation.

In May 1996, Tucker was convicted "on one count of arranging nearly $3 million in fraudulent loans" as part of the Whitewater controversy. The Arkansas Constitution, like nearly all state constitutions in the United States, does not allow convicted felons to hold office. Tucker thus promised to resign by July 15. Huckabee then announced he would quit the Senate race and instead fill the unexpired term of Tucker. However, Tucker, insisting he had a strong case for appeal, rescinded his resignation as Huckabee was preparing to be sworn in on July 15. Within a few hours, Tucker reinstated his resignation after Huckabee and the legislature threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against Tucker. Huckabee was then duly sworn in as governor.

In November 1998, Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term by defeating retired colonel Gene McVay in the primary and Jonesboro attorney Bill Bristow in the general election, becoming the state's third elected Republican governor since Reconstruction. According to a CNN exit poll, Huckabee received 48% of the African American vote in his 1998 election; but some experts have questioned whether those numbers are a representative sample on how he did on the whole in the election.

As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee received grades of B in 1998, C in 2000, C in 2002, D in 2004, and F in 2006 from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, in their biennial Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors.

Huckabee was made the chair of the Southern Governors' Association in 1999 and served in capacity through 2000. He has chaired the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern Technology Council, the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and the Education Commission of the States. He is also a member of the Republican Governors Association and former chairman of the National Governors Association. Huckabee is presently the chairman of conservative PACs called the Vertical Politics Institute and Huck PAC.

In 2001, Huckabee was named "Friend of a Taxpayer" by Americans for Tax Reform for his cut in statewide spending.

Huckabee plays the electric bass guitar in his classic-rock cover band, Capitol Offense. The group has played for political events and parties, including entertaining at unofficial inaugural balls in Washington, D.C., in January 2001.

In November 2002, Huckabee was reelected to his second four-year term by defeating State Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher, garnering 53 percent of the vote. His reelection came despite the defeat in the general election of fellow Republican U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson.

In 2003, Eugene Fields received a six-year prison sentence after his fourth conviction of driving while intoxicated in five years. Huckabee granted clemency over the objections of the local prosecutor and sheriff, the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. A spokeswoman for Huckabee, Charmaine Yoest, said that Fields's political donations [to the Arkansas Republican Party] and connections played no role in his clemency. About two years after Fields's sentence was cut to 11 months, he was arrested again for driving while intoxicated as his truck crossed the center line directly into the path of an oncoming police car.

When elected governor of Arkansas, Huckabee was obese. In 2003, physicians diagnosed him with type 2 diabetes, and informed him that he would not live more than 10 years if he did not lose weight. Huckabee acknowledges that he has weighed as much as 300 pounds (135 kg). Coupled with the death of former Governor Frank D. White (whose obesity contributed to a fatal heart attack) his diagnosis prompted Huckabee to begin eating a healthier diet and exercising. He subsequently lost over 110 pounds (50 kg). The New York Times called the weight loss so rapid that "it was as if he simply unzipped a fat suit and stepped out."

Huckabee has voiced his support of intelligent design and he has stated that he does not accept the validity of Darwin's theory of evolution. He was quoted in July 2004 on Arkansans Ask, his regular show on the Arkansas Educational Television Network: "I think that students also should be given exposure to the theories not only of evolution but to the basis of those who believe in creationism."

Huckabee received widespread praise for his state's rapid response to Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, Time named him one of the five best governors in the U.S., writing "Huckabee has approached his state's troubles with energy and innovation" and referred to him as "a mature, consensus-building conservative who earns praise from fellow Evangelicals and, occasionally, liberal Democrats." Governing magazine likewise honored Huckabee as one of its 2005 Public Officials of the Year.

In 2005, Huckabee was named one of Time's top 5 governors, honored as one of Governing magazine's Public Officials of the Year, and given the American Public Health Association's Distinguished Public Health Legislator of the Year Award.

In 2006, he was presented with AARP's Impact Award for his health initiatives.

Huckabee believes that marriage is between one man and one woman, and he opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions. In 2006, he outlawed same-sex marriage in Arkansas, but in 2007 he stated that Americans should "respect" gay couples. He says that adoptions should be child focused and opposes "gay adoptions". Huckabee, expounding upon his view on homosexuality, said the following:

Huckabee announced his run for the White House on Meet the Press on January 28, 2007.

In November 2007, Huckabee drew endorsements from a large number of religious activists, including Billy McCormack, a pastor in Shreveport, Louisiana, and a director and vice president of the Christian Coalition of America, founded in 1988 by a previous presidential candidate, Pat Robertson. He was criticized for using a bookshelf that resembled a cross in a Christmas commercial as a form of signaling to Christians, and laughed them off saying "I will confess this: If you play the spot backwards, it says, 'Paul is dead. Paul is dead.'" He also faced a "drumbeat" of questions about the role of faith in his gubernatorial administration and about past statements he made in 1998 about the U.S. being a "Christian nation" in which he said, "I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ." Huckabee told NBC that his comment was not politically incorrect and was "appropriate to be said to a gathering of Southern Baptists". Huckabee has credited God with some of his political success.

In 2007, Huckabee argued for a larger military and an increase in defense spending, writing, "Right now, we spend about 3.9 percent of our GDP on defense, compared with about six percent in 1986, under President Ronald Reagan. We need to return to that six percent level."

In 2007, Huckabee was given the Music for Life Award by the National Association of Music Merchants for his music education advocacy.

In December 2008, Huckabee became an honorary member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He said that did not have time to join a fraternity in college because he had to "cram four years into a little more than two". The fraternity's CEO said they were "very impressed with his character and the initiatives he headed" as governor.

On January 3, 2008, Huckabee won the Iowa Republican caucuses, receiving 34% of the electorate and 17 delegates, compared with the 25% of Mitt Romney, who finished second, receiving 12 delegates; Fred Thompson, who came in third place and received three delegates; John McCain, who came in fourth place and received three delegates; and Ron Paul, who came in fifth place and received two delegates.

On January 8, 2008, Huckabee finished in third place in the New Hampshire primary, behind John McCain in first place, and Mitt Romney who finished second, with Huckabee receiving one more delegate for a total of 18 delegates, gained via elections, and 21 total delegates, versus 30 total (24 via elections) for Romney, and 10 for McCain (all via elections).

On January 15, 2008, Huckabee finished in third place in the Michigan Republican primary, 2008, behind John McCain in second place; Mitt Romney, who finished first; and ahead of Ron Paul, who finished in fourth place.

On January 19, 2008, Huckabee finished in second place in the South Carolina Republican primary, 2008, behind John McCain, who finished first and ahead of Fred Thompson, who finished third.

On January 29, 2008, Huckabee finished in fourth place in the Florida primary, behind Rudy Giuliani in third, Mitt Romney in second, and John McCain in first place.

On January 21, 2008, Huckabee received the endorsement of 50 African American leaders in Atlanta, Georgia. The endorsers cited Huckabee's record on life, education, minorities, the economy, the prison system, and immigration as Arkansas governor. However, NBC reported that the endorsement of African American leaders at the Atlanta event was 36, and "most of them connected to conservative religious organizations".

On February 5, 2008, Huckabee won the first contest of "Super Tuesday", the West Virginia GOP state convention, but only after the McCain campaign provided their delegates, thereby giving Huckabee 52% of the electorate to Mitt Romney's 47%. Backers of rival John McCain said they threw Huckabee their support to prevent Mitt Romney from capturing the winner-take-all GOP state convention vote. Consequently, he also registered victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee on Super Tuesday, bringing his delegate count up to 156, compared with 689 for Republican party front-runner John McCain.

On February 9, 2008, Huckabee won the first election following Super Tuesday, by winning 60% of the vote in the Kansas Republican Caucuses. This was also the first contest to be held without Mitt Romney, who was said to be splitting the conservative vote with Huckabee. Huckabee also won the Louisiana Republican Primary with 44% of the vote to John McCain's 43% in second. Although Huckabee won the primary he was not awarded any delegates, because of state party rules that stated a candidate must pass the 50% threshold to receive the state's pledged delegates.

On March 4, 2008, Huckabee withdrew from seeking the candidacy as it became apparent he would lose in Texas, where he had hoped to win, and that John McCain would get the 1,191 delegates required to win the Republican nomination. Huckabee finished the race with 240 pledged delegates.

Even though Huckabee had signed a television contract and a book deal with a pressing deadline, he was mentioned by most to be on then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain's short list for his vice presidential running mate. The late pundit Tim Russert even referred to Huckabee as "Vice President Huckabee" several times when he appeared on Meet The Press on May 18, 2008. Huckabee was eventually passed over for Sarah Palin.

Amid speculation about a future run for the Presidency, a CNN poll in December 2008 found Huckabee at the top of the list of 2012 GOP contenders, along with former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, fellow 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

On December 3, 2008, Cincinnati-based NBC affiliate WLWT asked Huckabee about the prospect of running, to which he said, "I'm pretty sure I'll be out there. Whether it's for myself or somebody else I may decide will be a better standard bearer, that remains to be seen."

On June 12, 2008, Fox News announced it was hiring Huckabee as a political commentator and regular contributor to their 2008 American presidential election coverage, in their New York election headquarters.

Huckabee filled in for Paul Harvey in July 2008. A few months later, he signed a deal with ABC Radio Networks (now Cumulus Media Networks) to carry a daily commentary, The Huckabee Report, beginning in January 2009. After Harvey's death his show replaced Harvey's broadcasts. On April 15, 2015, Huckabee announced that The Huckabee Report would be ending May 1, but subscribers could hear similar content that they would pay for.

Huckabee's handling of clemency petitions received national attention in November 2009 with the case of Maurice Clemmons, who had committed burglary without a weapon at age 16. The Prison Transfer Board unanimously requested a sentence commutation for Clemmons as did the trial judge. Clemmons's 60-year sentence was commuted by Huckabee to 47 years, making him eligible for parole if approved by the parole board. After parole in 2000, Clemmons was arrested for multiple offenses including child molestation and aggravated assault but was released after prosecutors declined to file charges. After Clemmons murdered four police officers in Lakewood, Washington, a two-day manhunt ensued, and Clemmons was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer after refusing police orders to stop charging the officer. In his book about the shooting, The Other Side of Mercy, Jonathan Martin of The Seattle Times wrote that Huckabee apparently failed to review Clemmons's prison file, which was "thick with acts of violence and absent indications of rehabilitation". Huckabee defended his actions, stating that the recommendation to reduce the sentence was unanimous and supported by the trial judge, that the decision to parole him was made by the parole board, not him, and that Clemmons had been re-arrested and the decision not to file charges then had nothing to do with him.

A June 2009 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll showed Huckabee as the 2012 presidential co-favorite of the Republican electorate along with Palin and Romney. An October 2009 poll of Republicans by Rasmussen Reports put Huckabee in the lead with 29%, followed by Romney on 24% and Palin on 18%. In a November 2009 Gallup poll, Huckabee was shown as the leading Republican contender for 2012. In November 2010 CNN projected in a poll that Huckabee would defeat Barack Obama in a hypothetical 2012 contest. In a Rasmussen poll taken January 11–14, 2011, Huckabee was even with Obama at 43% each.

In 2009, Huckabee acknowledged that he had gained back a quarter of his weight due to a foot condition that prevented him from running.

Huckabee hosted a weekend show, Huckabee, on Fox News Channel, which premiered Saturday, September 27, 2008, at 8 PM EST. For six weeks in summer 2010, Fox test-ran The Huckabee Show for the syndicated market; Huckabee was joined by guest co-hosts in the daily spin-off, among them Bob Barker of the The Price Is Right fame. Huckabee ended on January 3, 2015 so that Huckabee could consider the possibility of running for president.

In July 2010, Huckabee became a fundraiser on behalf of for-profit Victory College in Memphis, Tennessee, and was designated Chancellor of the Victory University Foundation.

On May 14, 2011, Huckabee announced on his FNC show that he would not be a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. Despite his high national poll numbers and being seen by many as the front runner, Huckabee declined to run, saying, "All the factors say 'go,' but my heart says 'no.'"

In April 2011, Huckabee said, "I almost wish that there would be a simultaneous telecast and all Americans would be forced, at gunpoint, to listen to every David Barton message," in praise of the Christian revisionist historian David Barton.

In a November 19, 2008, article by the Associated Press, Huckabee addressed the possibility of running for president in 2012. He said, "I'm not ruling anything out for the future, but I'm not making any specific plans."

On April 2, 2012, Huckabee launched a long-form daily talk show on Cumulus Media Networks, who provide the call-in guests. The show, which is targeted at second-tier broadcast stations, features long-form interviews and discussions and airs in the noon to 3 p.m. time slot, directly opposite the market leader in talk radio, The Rush Limbaugh Show. On November 27, 2013, Huckabee announced that the show will have its final broadcast on December 12, 2013, stating that he and Cumulus Media mutually decided not to renew the contract.

Huckabee indicated in September 2014 that he would make the decision on whether to run early in 2015. In January 2015, Huckabee ended his show on FNC to prepare for his possible run in the 2016 presidential election. On March 30, 2015, Huckabee supporters launched a Super PAC to make preparations for his run for the Presidential ticket in 2016.

In January 2014, in a luncheon speech at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting, in response to a federal mandate on contraception, Huckabee stated that "Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control, they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government."

In September 2014, Huckabee said, "Fire the ones who refuse to hear not only our hearts, but God's heart" (for which he was criticized by Richard Dawkins).

On May 5, 2015 in his hometown of Hope, Arkansas, Huckabee announced a campaign to seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States in the 2016 election. In his speech, Huckabee attacked trade deals that he said drive down U.S. wages, opposed raising the age for Social Security benefits, criticized President Obama for what he said was putting more pressure on Israel than Iran, and made an unusual plea for donations of $15 or $25 a month, saying: "I will ask you to give something in the name of your children and grandchildren."

On October 13, 2015, making reference to the ongoing Democratic Party primary competition, he posted a comment on Twitter saying, "I trust @BernieSanders with my tax dollars like I trust a North Korean chef with my labrador! #DemDebate".

On December 14, 2015, Alice Stewart, the head spokesman for the campaign, resigned her position. She was replaced immediately by Hogan Gidley, the former director of HuckPac.

According to a CNN exit poll, Huckabee won 48% of African American votes in his successful 1998 gubernatorial race in Arkansas. The 48% figure is often disputed due to the exit poll's small sample size. Huckabee says that it is important for Republicans such as himself to reach out to black voters, and in 2015 he has ramped up efforts to win those votes.

In 2015, Huckabee stated on Meet the Press that the confederate flag issue was for South Carolinians to decide, "not an issue for a person running for president", and days later he congratulated Gov. Nikki Haley on her decision supporting removal of the flag from the state capitol. Huckabee gave a speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention that included this: "I say with sincerity that I have great respect for Senator Obama's historic achievement to become his party's nominee—not because of his color, but with indifference to it. Party or politics aside, we celebrate this milestone because it elevates our country."

In January 2015, he compared homosexuality to "drinking and swearing", insofar as it is "part of a lifestyle". Huckabee has stated he has gay friends, saying, "People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle. I don't shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view[.]"

In September 2015, speaking about his support on religious freedom grounds of Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to radio host Michael Medved, Huckabee said, "Michael, Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren't fully human. Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?" (The decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford had been superseded by the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and nullified by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.)

Political commentators speculated that Huckabee might be ready for another presidential run in 2016. He was limited by a lack of money in 2008 but with changes to federal election law allowing SuperPACs to pour large sums of money into a race he might be better positioned to stay in the race. Huckabee has in addition earned personal wealth since 2008 on the lecture circuit and his TV and radio shows. He ended his daily radio show in December 2013, which strengthened speculations about a presidential bid.

On February 1, 2016, after a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucus Huckabee decided that he was going to suspend his campaign.

Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Huckabee met with president-elect of the United States Donald Trump, whom he had supported for the Republican nomination after ending his own campaign in February. It was reported by The Daily Mail and The Jerusalem Post that Trump offered Huckabee the position of United States Ambassador to Israel. Huckabee denied the reports. He told Fox News that a possible cabinet appointment for himself was discussed but that he turned the offer down, saying, "I'm not sure it was the right fit."

In June 2016, Huckabee, along with actor Pat Boone and executive producer Troy Duhon, all of whom were involved in the film God's Not Dead 2, sent a letter to California governor Jerry Brown opposing Senate Bill 1146, which "prohibits a person from being subjected to discrimination" at California colleges. Other than religious schools—those that train pastors and theology teachers—schools "might no longer be allowed to hire Christian-only staff, teach religious ideas in regular classes, require attendance at chapel services or keep bathrooms and dormitories restricted to either males or females."

In October 2017, the Huckabee show was relaunched, now produced by and aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. It is simulcast on Newsmax TV.

Reports emerged in the summer of 2016 that Huckabee, who currently lives in Florida, was considering running for governor of Florida in 2018 to succeed term limited Republican incumbent Rick Scott. However, Huckabee later announced that he was declining to run in the 2018 Florida Gubernatorial election. Had he run and won, he would have become the first person to serve as governor of two separate states since Sam Houston, who served as governor of Tennessee and later as governor of Texas. Before his announcement not to run, an August 2016 poll of Florida Republicans conducted by StPetePolls.org showed Huckabee leading a field of potential Republican gubernatorial candidates with 37%.

In January 2018, Huckabee praised Doha, Qatar as being "surprisingly beautiful, modern, and hospitable" after a trip there, but did not reveal that a foreign agent for Qatar had paid $50,000 to a corporation run by Huckabee as a "honorarium for visit".