Bill Weld | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Weld in 2016 | |
| 68thGovernor of Massachusetts | |
| In office January 3, 1991 – July 29, 1997 | |
| Lieutenant | Paul Cellucci |
| Preceded by | Michael Dukakis |
| Succeeded by | Paul Cellucci |
| United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division | |
| In office September 15, 1986 – March 29, 1988 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Stephen S. Trott |
| Succeeded by | Edward Dennis |
| United States Attorney for theDistrict of Massachusetts | |
| In office November 1, 1981 – September 15, 1986 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Edward F. Harrington |
| Succeeded by | Robert Mueller (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Floyd Weld (1945-07-31)July 31, 1945 (age 80) Smithtown, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican Party (before 2016, since 2019)Libertarian Party (2016-2019) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | Weld family |
| Education | Harvard University (BA,JD) University College, Oxford (attended) |
| Signature |  |
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|---|---|---|
Pre-governorship
Governor of Massachusetts
 | ||
William Floyd Weld (born July 31, 1945) is an American attorney, businessman, author, and politician who served as the 68thgovernor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. Weld wasGary Johnson’s running mate in 2016. Weld also ran forPresident in2020.
AHarvard graduate,[1] Weld began his career as legal counsel to theUnited States House Committee on the Judiciary before becoming theUnited States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and later, theUnited States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. He worked on a series of high-profilepublic corruption cases and later resigned in protest of an ethics scandal and associated investigations intoAttorney GeneralEdwin Meese.
Weld was electedGovernor of Massachusetts in1990. In the1994 election, he was reelected by the largest margin of victory in Massachusetts history. In1996, he was the Republican nominee for theUnited States Senate in Massachusetts, losing to Democratic incumbentJohn Kerry. Weld resigned as governor in 1997 to focus on his nomination by PresidentBill Clinton to serve asUnited States Ambassador to Mexico; due to opposition by socially conservativeSenate Foreign Relations committee ChairmanJesse Helms, he was denied a hearing before the Foreign Relations committee and withdrew his nomination. After moving to New York in 2000, Weld sought the Republican nomination for Governor of New York in the2006 election; when the Republican Party instead endorsedJohn Faso, Weld withdrew from the race.
Weld became involved in presidential politics in later years. In 2016, he left the Republican Party to become the Libertarian Partyrunning mate of formergovernor of New MexicoGary Johnson. They received nearly 4.5 million votes, the highest number for a Libertarian ticket, and the best for any third-party ticket since1996 withRoss Perot'sReform Party.
Returning to the Republican Party, Weld announced in April 2019 that he would challenge PresidentDonald Trump in the2020 Republican primaries, launching his campaign. He won his first and only delegate of the primaries in theIowa caucus in February, making him the first Republican sincePat Buchanan in1992 to win a delegate while running against an incumbent president. Weld suspended his campaign on March 18, 2020, shortly after Trump's delegate count made him the presumptive Republican nominee, and ultimately placed second in 22 states and second overall with 2.4% of the popular vote, collecting relevant percentages of up to 13% in protest-votes against Trump in several states. He also placed second in allocated delegates. He endorsed DemocratJoe Biden seven months later.
William Floyd Weld was born inSmithtown, New York, on July 31, 1945.[2][3] He was primarily raised on a farm in Smithtown, though his family also owned a residence inManhattan.[4] His father, David (1911–1972), was an investment banker; his mother, Mary Nichols Weld (1913–1986), was a descendant ofWilliam Floyd, a signatory of theU.S. Declaration of Independence. His ancestor Edmund Weld was among the earliest students (Class of 1650) atHarvard College; eighteen other Welds have attended Harvard, and two Harvard buildings are named for the family.[5] A distant cousin,General Stephen Minot Weld Jr., fought with distinction in theCivil War.[6][7]
Weld attendedMiddlesex School inConcord, Massachusetts. He graduated with aBachelor of Arts,summa cum laude, inclassics fromHarvard College in 1966. He studied economics atUniversity College, Oxford.[8] After returning to the US, he graduated with aJ.D.,cum laude, fromHarvard Law School in 1970.[9]
His siblings are Francis "Tim" Weld, David Weld, and Anne (married name Collins). His maternal grandfather was theichthyologist andornithologistJohn Treadwell Nichols, and his first cousin is the novelistJohn Nichols.[10]
Weld began his legal career as a junior counsel on theU.S. House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry staff during the 1974impeachment process against Richard Nixon. He contributed to the groundbreaking "Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment" report, which detailed the historical basis and standards for impeachment of a president. He also worked on researching whetherimpoundment of appropriated funds was animpeachable offense. Among his colleagues wasHillary Clinton.[11]
Weld's experience serving on the impeachment inquiry staff sparked his interest incriminal law.[11] He returned afterward to Massachusetts, where he ran unsuccessfully forMassachusetts Attorney General in 1978. He lost to Democratic incumbentFrancis X. Bellotti by 1,532,835 votes (78.4%) to 421,417 (21.6%).
In 1981, Weld was recommended toPresident Reagan byRudy Giuliani, then Associate U.S. Attorney General, for appointment as the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. During Weld's tenure, the Attorney General's office prosecuted some ofNew England's largest banks in cases involving money-laundering and otherwhite-collar crimes. Weld expanded an ongoing public corruption investigation of the administration of Boston MayorKevin White. More than twenty city employees were indicted, pleaded guilty, or were convicted of a range of charges, including several key political supporters of the Mayor.[12] In 1985,The Boston Globe said Weld "has been by far the most visible figure in the prosecution of financial institutions."[13]
Weld gained national recognition in fighting public corruption: he won 109 convictions out of 111 cases.[14]
In 1983,The Boston Globe stated: "The U.S. Attorney's office has not lost a single political corruption case since Weld took over, an achievement believed to be unparalleled in the various federal jurisdictions."[13]
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In 1986, President Reagan promoted Weld to head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, where Weld oversaw 700 employees. Serving from September 15, 1986, until March 29, 1988,[15] Weld was responsible for supervising all federal prosecutions, including those investigated by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as the work of the 93 U.S. Attorneys (who by then included Rudy Giuliani in Manhattan). During this time, Weld worked on some of the Reagan administration's most significant prosecutions and investigations, including the capture of Panama'sManuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges. Bill Weld was on the prosecution team against James Beggs, Administrator of NASA, and General Dynamics that caused Beggs to take a leave of absence shortly before the Challenger Disaster. After the trial completely exonerated Beggs, Weld was asked to apologize to Beggs. He refused.[16]
While serving as the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department Criminal Division, Weld wrote a memorandum in 1988 to theHouse Judiciary Committee that formally reviewed the recommendations of theHouse Select Committee on Assassinations final report and reported conclusions of active investigations on theassassinations of John F. Kennedy andMartin Luther King Jr.[17] In light of investigative reports from theFBI's Technical Services Division and theNational Academy of Sciences Committee determining that "reliable acoustic data do not support a conclusion that there was a second gunman" in the Kennedy assassination, and that all investigative leads known to the Justice Department for both assassinations had been "exhaustively pursued", the Department concluded "that no persuasive evidence can be identified to support the theory of a conspiracy in either the assassination of President Kennedy or the assassination of Dr. King."[17]
In March 1988, Weld resigned from the Justice Department, together withDeputy Attorney GeneralArnold Burns and four aides, in protest of improper conduct byAttorney GeneralEdwin Meese.[18][19] In July 1988, Weld and Burns jointly testified before Congress in favor of a potential prosecution of Edwin Meese for his personal financial conduct, following a report by a special prosecutor investigating Edwin Meese.[19] Meese resigned from office in July 1988 shortly after Weld's and Burns's testimony.[19]
Weld was a senior partner atHale and Dorr from 1988 until 1990.[20]
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In 1990, Weld announced his candidacy forGovernor of Massachusetts to replace the outgoingMichael Dukakis.[21] Although Republicans made up under 14% of the Massachusetts electorate and a Republican had not won the gubernatorial election since 1970, Weld's liberal stances on social issues made him a viable candidate for office in the heavily Democratic state.[22] At the state Republican convention, party officials backedSteven Pierce over Weld, and initial polling had Pierce ahead by 25 percentage points.[23] However, Weld gained enough support to force a primary, and in an upset election, he won the Republican nomination over Pierce by 94,249 votes.[24]
In the general election, he facedJohn Silber, the president ofBoston University. Polls showed Weld anywhere from a statistical tie to trailing by as many as ten points.[25] Voter dissatisfaction with the state's Democratic majority gave Weld support for his promises to reduce the state deficit, lower the unemployment rate, and cut taxes,[26] while Silber's statements to the right of Weld on social issues caused many Democratic voters to vote for Weld.[27] On November 6, 1990, he was elected as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts by 75,939 votes, to become the first Republican governor of Massachusetts sinceFrancis W. Sargent left office in 1975. Governor Weld is generally considered to have been amoderate or liberal Republican governor.[28][29][30][31] He isfiscally conservative andsocially liberal.[32][33]
The business community reacted strongly to Weld's leadership. In a 1994 survey of chief executives conducted by the Massachusetts High Technology Council, 83% of those polled rated the state's business climate as good or excellent – up from 33% at the beginning of his term. Proponents might claim that Weld's leadership changed the minds of 50% of the CEOs surveyed while others would note the national economic trends or other factors might play a part. Weld also reaped the benefits of the 1990s' prosperity, as the state's unemployment rate fell by more than 3 percentage points during his first term, from 9.6% in 1991 to 6.4% in 1994. As a result, Weld received grades of A in 1992,[34][35] B in 1994,[36][37] and B in 1996[38][39] from theCato Institute, alibertarian think tank, in their biennial Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors. In 1993 he supported adoption of a gun control bill in Massachusetts that included limits on gun purchases under age 21, as well as prohibiting certain types of weapons, which was not ultimately passed.[40] He has since renounced this proposal.[41] Weld ispro-choice and helped to introduce legislation to make it easier for women to access abortion procedures.[42] As Governor, he supportedgay rights. In 1992, he signed an executive order to recognizedomestic partnership rights for same-sex couples.[43] In 1993, he signed into law legislation protecting the rights of gay students.[44] He also said he would recognize same-sex marriages that might be performed out of state following acourt decision in Hawaii.[45][46] Weld signed into law theMassachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 that created theMassachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and the legal framework forcharter schools in Massachusetts.[47] During his term, he launched a successful effort to privatize many state's human services, laying off thousands of state employees.[48][49] One of the social services Weld opposed and eventually ended was a program providing higher education to prison inmates.[50] He also worked to expandMedicaid access by requesting more federal funding and, then, allowing more residents to qualify for the plan to both solve budget problems and increase access to health care in the state.[51] After cutting state spending year-over-year for his first two years, the Republican Party lost its ability to sustain a veto in the legislature due to losses in theMassachusetts State Senate, forcing Weld to make greater concessions to Democratic legislators.[52]
In1994, Weld won re-election by 921,740 votes in the most one-sided gubernatorial contest in Massachusetts electoral history.[citation needed] Weld carried all but five towns in the whole state, even carrying Boston.[citation needed]
In 1995, Weld eulogized one of his longtime supporters, former Massachusetts House memberMary B. Newman, stating, "Mary Newman, for years the grande dame both of Cambridge and its Republican party, launched me in politics by serving as chair of my statewide campaign in 1978."[53]
Following his landslide victory as governor, Weld briefly considered running for the presidency in 1996.[citation needed] In 1996, after signing a conservation bill, he jumped fully clothed into theCharles River.[8]
| The Weld Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| Governor | William Weld | 1991–1997 |
| Lt. Governor | Paul Cellucci | 1991–1997 |
| Secretary of Transportation and Construction | Richard L. Taylor James Kerasiotes | 1991–1992 1992–1997 |
| Secretary of Housing & Community Development | Steven Pierce Mary L. Padula | 1991–1991 1991–1996 |
| Secretary of Environmental Affairs | Susan Tierney Trudy Coxe | 1991–1993 1993–1997 |
| Secretary of Consumer Affairs | Gloria Cordes Larson Priscilla Douglas Nancy Merrick | 1991–1993 1993–1996 1996–1997 |
| Secretary of Health and Human Services | David P. Forsberg Charlie Baker Gerald Whitburn Joseph V. Gallant William D. O'Leary | 1991–1992 1992–1994 1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1997 |
| Secretary of Elder Affairs | Franklin P. Ollivierre | 1991–1997 |
| Secretary of Labor | Christine Morris | 1991–1996 |
| Secretary of Administration & Finance | Peter Nessen Mark E. Robinson Charlie Baker | 1991–1993 1993–1994 1994–1997 |
| Secretary of Public Safety | James B. Roche Thomas C. Rapone Kathleen O'Toole | 1991–1992 1992–1994 1994–1997 |
| Director of Economic Affairs | Stephen Tocco Gloria Cordes Larson | 1991–1993 1993–1996 |
| Secretary of Education | Piedad Robertson Michael Sentance | 1991–1995 1995–1996 |
On November 30, 1995, Weld announced that he would challenge incumbentDemocratic SenatorJohn Kerry in the 1996 election.[54] Weld, who was among the first reasonably well-funded Republican Senate candidates in Massachusetts sinceEdward Brooke was unseated in 1978, said of the race, "I've spent some time recently considering where I can do the most good for the people of Massachusetts, and right now the fights that matter most to the people of this state are in another arena, Congress."[54]
The race was covered nationwide as one of the most closely watched Senate races that year. Noted for how civil their respective campaigns were of one another,[55] Kerry and Weld negotiated a campaign spending cap and agreed to eight separate debates leading up to the election.[56] Though facing a traditional uphill battle in a state where Democrats outnumbered Republicans 3-to-1, and running the same year as the presidential election, Weld was a popular incumbent governor and polled even with Kerry throughout the election.[57][58]
In the end, Kerry won re-election by 191,508 votes, the last seriously contested Senate race in Massachusetts until thespecial election forTed Kennedy's seat in 2010. Notably, PresidentBill Clinton wonMassachusetts in 1996 with 61.5% of the vote.
In July 1997, Weld was nominated to becomeUnited States Ambassador to Mexico by PresidentBill Clinton. His nomination stalled afterSenate Foreign Relations committee ChairmanJesse Helms refused to hold a hearing on the nomination, effectively blocking it. Helms was also a Republican and their party held the majority in the chamber, but Helms objected to Weld's moderate stance on social issues such as his support for gay rights, abortion rights and the legalization ofmedical marijuana. This refusal to hold hearings was also rumored to be at the request of former attorney general and friend of Helms,Edwin Meese. Meese reportedly had a long-standing grudge against Weld stemming from Weld's investigation of Meese during theIran–Contra affair. Meese denied the speculation, asserting that he wished to keep his distance from Weld.[59] Weld publicly criticized Helms, which the White House discouraged him from doing, but Weld relished the opportunity, saying: "It feels like being in a campaign. I feel newly energized. I love to stir up the pot. I seem to click on more cylinders when the pot is stirred up." Senate Majority LeaderTrent Lott said that Weld's chances of being confirmed weren't "very good, and that he hurt himself by attacking the chairman unfairly and with political rhetoric that was just uncalled for." There was speculation that the White House would let his nomination "die", but he refused, saying that he hoped President Clinton "does not plan to give in to ideological extortion" and that "I wanted to send a message that I wanted to be captain of my ship [the nomination] even if it's going to bottom." Some speculated that attacking the more conservative Helms was a way to position him to pick up votes from fellow moderate Republicans in a potential run for president in 2000, but he rejected this, saying that "I've had a lot of people come up to me on the street and say, 'Give 'em hell. That's the Bill Weld we know and love.'"[60]
Weld resigned the governorship on July 29, 1997, to devote his full attention to campaigning for the ambassadorship, even though few thought he would be successful; there was speculation that he was really resigning because he had become tired of serving as governor. A bipartisan majority of Senators signed letters demanding that Helms advance his nomination, but Helms refused.[61] After an intensive six-week battle,[62] Weld conceded defeat and withdrew his nomination on September 15, 1997. He commented, "I asked President Clinton to withdraw my name from the Senate so I can go back to New England, where no one has to approach the government on bended knee to ask it to do its duty."[63]
Weld was a partner in theBoston andManhattan offices of the internationallaw firmMcDermott Will & Emery from 1997 to 2001, and head of the New York office from 2000 to 2001.[64] Weld was registered as a lobbyist for McDermott Will & Emery. Between 2007 and 2011, Weld was a lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon, CNX Gas Corporation, Sony Electronics and shoemaker New Balance.[65] In December 2000, theprivate equity firm Leeds Equity Partners announced that Weld would join the firm, to be renamed Leeds Weld & Co., as a general partner, effective on January 1, 2001.[66] At the private equity firm, Weld later "reduced his role to a senior advisor while considering a run for New York governor" in 2005.[67] Weld rejoined McDermott Will & Emery in 2006.[64] Weld was admitted to the bar in New York in 2008.[68] In 2012, Weld moved to the Boston law firm ofMintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, becoming a partner there and a principal with the firm's government relations affiliate, ML Strategies LLC.[69][70]
During the re-election campaign of PresidentGeorge W. Bush, who was running against Weld's old foe John Kerry, Weld helped Bush to prepare for thedebates.
From January to October 2005, Weld was chief executive ofDecker College inLouisville, Kentucky. His term ended as the college was closing under bankruptcy protection following a disagreement with theU.S. Department of Education about accreditation of its construction-related courses and online instruction. This matter would follow Weld into the 2006 race for Governor of New York, with former U.S. senator from New YorkAlfonse D'Amato asserting that Weld was responsible and oversaw "multimillion dollar looting".[71][72]
On March 27, 2016,The Wall Street Journal reported as part of an opinion article that "Bankruptcy trustee Robert Keats alleged [Ralph] LoBosco", a Department of Education employee, "was trying to exact revenge against Decker CEO William Weld". The article continued: "Education Department administrative law judge Robert Layton recently affirmed a 2012 bankruptcy court finding that the Council on Occupational Education had failed to tell the truth in stating that Decker's online programs were never accredited. The Council's 'factually erroneous' assertion caused the Education Department to withdraw federal student aid in 2005, which precipitated Decker's bankruptcy."[73]
After being Governor of Massachusetts, Weld moved to New York in 2000. On April 24, 2005, it was reported that he was in talks with the New York Republicans to run forGovernor of New York in 2006, against likelyDemocratic nomineeEliot Spitzer. Incumbent GOP GovernorGeorge Pataki announced on July 27 that he would not seek a fourth term. On August 19, 2005, Weld officially announced his candidacy for Governor of New York, seeking to become the second person afterSam Houston to serve as governor of two different U.S. states.[74]
In December 2005, Weld received the backing of the Republican county chairs of New York State during a county chairs meeting. On April 29, 2006, Weld received the Libertarian Party's nomination for Governor Of New York.[75] Weld reportedly offered his chief rival for the nomination, former Republican Assembly leaderJohn Faso, the chance to join his ticket as a candidate forlieutenant governor, an offer Faso reportedly declined.[76] Faso gained increasing support from party leaders in various counties, includingWestchester andSuffolk, both of which had large delegate counts to the state convention.
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On June 1, 2006, the Republican State Convention voted 61% to 39% to endorse Faso over Weld. On June 5,Stephen J. Minarik (the chairman of the state Republican Party, and Weld's most prominent backer), called on Weld to withdraw from the race in the interest of party unity.[77] Weld formally announced his withdrawal from the race the following day and returned to private life. Spitzer would go on to defeat Faso by the largest margin in New York gubernatorial history.[78]
Weld publicly endorsed former Massachusetts GovernorMitt Romney for the presidency on January 8, 2007; he was a co-chairman for Romney's campaign in New York State.[79] On the same day that Weld endorsed Romney, Gov. and Mrs. Weld also raised $50,000 for Romney'sexploratory committee. Weld personally made a donation of $2,100, the maximum allowed per person per election at the time. After the maximum allowed rose to $2,300, Weld donated another $200.
Weld was also active in campaigning for Romney inNew Hampshire, where both governors have been known to travel together. Weld went on to endorseBarack Obama over John McCain in thegeneral election.[80] Weld endorsed Romney in the2012 presidential election.[81]
In February 2016, Weld endorsedOhio GovernorJohn Kasich for theRepublican presidential nomination.[82]
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On May 17, 2016, former New Mexico GovernorGary Johnson, the Libertarian Party's 2012 presidential nominee and the leading candidate for its 2016 nomination, announced his selection of Weld to be his choice for running mate.[83][84] The vice-presidential candidate is formally nominated separately from and after the presidential candidate under the Libertarian Party's rules, although as the presidential nominee Johnson was first allowed to speak about his endorsement of Weld. Both candidates won their nominations on a second ballot after narrowly failing to attain an absolute majority on the first ballot.[85][86] Weld accepted the Libertarian Party's nomination for vice president at theLibertarian National Convention inOrlando, Florida on May 29.[87][non-primary source needed]
During the campaign, Weld took the lead on fundraising operations, as well as appearing on national television and at campaign rallies across the nation.[88][89] Together, Johnson and Weld were the first presidential ticket to consist of two governors since the1948 election whenThomas Dewey of New York ran as a Republican withEarl Warren of California andStrom Thurmond of South Carolina ran as aStates' Rights Democrat withFielding L. Wright of Mississippi.[90] Despite polling higher than any third-party campaign sinceRoss Perot in1992, Johnson and Weld were excluded from the debates controlled by theCommission on Presidential Debates and their poll numbers subsequently declined.[91][92]
Nationwide, the Johnson/Weld ticket received 4,488,919 votes (3.3%), breaking the Libertarian Party's record for both absolute vote total (previously 1,275,923 for Johnson in2012) and percentage (previously 1.1% forEd Clark andDavid Koch in1980).
On January 17, 2019, Weld rejoined the Republican Party, increasing speculation that he would run for president.[93][94][95] On February 14, 2019, Weld announced that he was launching apresidential exploratory committee for the2020 Republican primary, against incumbent Republican presidentDonald Trump.[96][97] Appearing onBloomberg News, Weld suggested that he could beat Trump in 2020 with help from independent voters.[98] He accused Trump onCNN the same weekend of having "showed contempt for the American people."[99] Weld challenged Trump on the issue of climate disruption, saying that he had made no effort to combat the effects of global warming. "We've got the polar ice cap that's going to melt with devastating consequences if we don't get carbon out of the atmosphere", Weld toldAmerica's Newsroom, noting that he would plan ahead for an "environmental catastrophe."[100]
On April 15, 2019, Weld formally announced his candidacy for President of the United States onThe Lead with Jake Tapper.[101] Weld received 1.3% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses and one pledged delegate on February 3.[102]
Weld suspended his campaign on March 18, 2020.[103]
After ending his campaign, Weld announced that he voted forJoe Biden andKamala Harris.[104]
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Weld is a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations.[105] He co-chaired its Independent Task Force on North America, which studied the liberalization of markets and free trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He was a principal atLeeds, Weld & Co., which describes itself as the United States's largest private equity fund focused on investing in the education and training industry. Weld serves on the board of directors ofAcreage Holdings.[106] For a time, he wrotethrillers and works of historical fiction.[107]
In February 2013, Weld publicly supported legal recognition forsame-sex marriage inan amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.[108]
Weld joinedOur America Initiative's 2016 Liberty Tour a number of times, speaking alongside other libertarian leaders and activists such asLaw Enforcement Against Prohibition executive director and former Baltimore Police Chief Neill Franklin, Free the People'sMatt Kibbe, Republican activists Ed Lopez andLiz Mair, Conscious Capitalism's Alex McCobin,Reason Foundation's David Nott, Foundation for Economic Education'sJeffrey Tucker, and the Libertarian Party'sCarla Howell (as well as some speakers not ordinarily associated with libertarianism, such as author and journalistNaomi Wolf); the tour raised "awareness about third party inclusion in national presidential debates" and "spread the message of liberty and libertarian thought."[109][110][111]
Throughout 2017 and 2018, Weld appeared at several state Libertarian Party conventions and endorsed various Libertarian candidates in the2018 United States elections. In January 2019, Weld changed his party affiliation back to Republican, in preparation for his presidential run as a Republican.[112]
Weld currently works as a lobbyist for ML Strategies. Weld's primary areas of focus as a lobbyist are helping c-level executives navigate competition, white collar investigation and litigation, and "dealing with government at all levels". Weld also specializes inESG consulting at ML Strategies.[113]
Weld also sits on the bipartisan advisory board of States United Democracy Center.[114]
After PresidentJoe Bidenended his campaign, Weld announced that he is voting forKamala Harris andTim Walz in the2024 election.[115]
Weld marriedSusan Roosevelt Weld, a great-granddaughter ofTheodore Roosevelt, on June 7, 1975.[116] Susan Roosevelt Weld was a professor atHarvard University specializing in ancient Chinese civilization and law, and she later served as General Counsel to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. The Welds had five children: David Minot (born 1976), aprofessor ofphysics at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara; Ethel Derby (born 1977), a physician; Mary Blake (born 1979), an attorney; Quentin Roosevelt (born 1981), an attorney; and Frances Wylie (born 1983), who has worked for theSan Francisco Giants.[117] The couple divorced in 2002.[116]
Weld's second and present wife is writerLeslie Marshall. They live inCanton, Massachusetts.[118]
Weld playsblindfold chess. He is a fan of theGrateful Dead, and following the death ofJerry Garcia said “More than any one song, it was just the consistently mellow approach they took to everything, life as well as music.”[8]
Weld is anEpiscopalian.[119]
Weld has written three mass market novels:
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Donald Trump /Mike Pence | 62,985,153 | 45.9% | |
| Democratic | Hillary Clinton /Tim Kaine | 65,853,677 | 48.0 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson / Bill Weld | 4,489,359 | 3.27 | |
| Green | Jill Stein /Ajamu Baraka | 1,457,288 | 1.1 | |
| Independent | Evan McMullin /Mindy Finn | 732,409 | 0.5 | |
| Independent | Other third-party candidates | 453,896 | 0.3 | |
| Write-in | 1,171,436 | 0.9 | ||
| Total votes | 137,143,218 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John Kerry (incumbent) | 1,334,345 | 52.7% |  1.77 | |
| Republican | Bill Weld | 1,142,837 | 45.2% |  4.2 | |
| Conservative | Susan C. Gallagher | 70,013 | 2.8% | N/A | |
| Natural Law | Robert C. Stowe | 7,176 | 0.3% | N/A | |
| Write-in | 1,515 | 0.1% | 0.0 | ||
| Total votes | 2,555,886 | 100.0% | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bill Weld (incumbent) | 1,533,390 | 70.9 | |
| Democratic | Mark Roosevelt | 611,650 | 28.3 | |
| Total votes | 2,145,040 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bill Weld | 1,175,817 | 50.2 | 20.63 | |
| Democratic | John Silber | 1,099,878 | 46.9 | 18.2 | |
| Independent | Leonard Umina | 62,703 | 2.7 | – | |
| Independent | Dorothy Stevens (write-in) | 872 | 0.0 | – | |
| Total votes | 2,339,270 | 100.0 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Francis X. Bellotti (incumbent) | 1,532,835 | 78.4 | |
| Republican | Bill Weld | 421,417 | 21.6 | |
| Total votes | 2,044,076 | 100.0 | ||
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts 1981–1986 | Succeeded by Robert Mueller Acting |
| Preceded by | United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division 1986–1988 | Succeeded by Edward Dennis |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forAttorney General of Massachusetts 1978 | Succeeded by Richard Wainwright |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Massachusetts 1990,1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromMassachusetts (Class 2) 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Libertariannominee forVice President of the United States 2016 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Massachusetts 1991–1997 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former Governor | Order of precedence of the United States | Succeeded byas Former Governor |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
