Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman, politician and the Republican Party’s nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election. From 2003 to 2007, he served as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts.

Elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Romney did not seek re-election in 2006. During his term, he presided over the elimination of a projected $3 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and the closure of corporate tax loopholes; Massachusetts also benefited from new federal grants and unexpected revenue from a previously enacted capital gains tax increase.

He helped develop and signed into law the Massachusetts health care reform legislation, the first of its kind in the nation, which provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and individual mandates to purchase insurance. Romney ran for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, winning several primaries and caucuses but losing the nomination to John McCain. In June 2011, he announced that he would seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. By May 2012, he had won enough caucuses and primaries to become the party’s presumptive nominee, and on August 28, delegates at the 2012 Republican National Convention declared him the official nominee.