36 Facts About Tim Pawlenty

1. Tim Pawlenty voted for President Donald Trump and "support[s] most of what's he's doing, nearly all of what he's doing on a policy level.

2. Tim Pawlenty is generally considered a conservative on the American political spectrum.

3. In a January 2011 interview, Mr Tim Pawlenty stated, "I love and respect and admire the Catholic Church.

4. In November 2012, Tim Pawlenty said that "Republicans and Democrats will have to reconcile their differences on spending and taxes because the 'walls of reality are closing in on them'" relative to the federal government's looming "fiscal cliff".

5. On September 12, 2011, Tim Pawlenty announced his endorsement of former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, as well as his position as national co-chair for Romney's campaign.

6. Tim Pawlenty finished third in the Ames Straw Poll on August 13, 2011, behind the winner Michele Bachmann and the runner-up Ron Paul.

7. On May 23, 2011, Tim Pawlenty launched his candidacy for president in a speech in Iowa stating: "I'm going to try something a little unusual in politics.

8. On March 21, 2011, Tim Pawlenty announced, via Facebook, that he had formed an exploratory committee in preparation for a potential run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

9. In December 2010, Tim Pawlenty was one of three US governors who publicly declared solidarity with the Christian-right group Family Research Council.

10. In late 2009, Tim Pawlenty began taking steps that many saw as leading to a 2012 presidential bid.

11. Tim Pawlenty decided not to seek a third term as governor, and so was not a candidate in the November 2010 gubernatorial election.

12. In February 2018, Tim Pawlenty began considering running for election for a third term as Governor of Minnesota in 2018, and started meeting with Republican donors and advisors.

13. On May 23, 2011, Tim Pawlenty formally announced he'd run for the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "politicians are often afraid that if they're too honest, they might lose an election.

14. Throughout his eight-year tenure, Tim Pawlenty hosted a weekly one-hour radio show on WCCO-AM, a tradition he inherited from his predecessor as governor, Jesse Ventura.

15. Tim Pawlenty took a delegation of nearly 200 Minnesotan business, government, academic and civic leaders on a weeklong trip to China in mid-November 2005.

16. Tim Pawlenty was visited in 2004 by Mexican President Vicente Fox in talks to strengthen trade.

17. Tim Pawlenty said, "It doesn't say we have to apply for all of them.

18. Tim Pawlenty used a line-item veto to remove $381 million from health and human services funding, a removal which could lead to 35,000 Minnesotans' losing their General Assistance Medical Care health insurance in 2011.

19. In 2007, Tim Pawlenty signed into law the 2007 Omnibus Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill, which provided funding for the Health Care Transformation Task Force, a panel of health care experts charged with exploring ways to reduce health care spending, improve quality, and ensure that Minnesota develops a universal health care plan by 2011.

20. In 2005, Tim Pawlenty asked a US Senate subcommittee to allow his MinnesotaCare health plan to expand and continue allowing state residents and employees to import cheaper Canadian prescription drugs.

21. In 2007, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 into law and, along with six other Midwestern governors, the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord.

22. Tim Pawlenty has lobbied the Governors' Ethanol Coalition to mandate higher ethanol use nationwide.

23. Tim Pawlenty had opposed the Northstar Commuter Rail as a legislator, but changed his position in 2004, announcing a funding plan to jump-start the project, when the Bush administration determined the rail line was deemed cost-effective and time-saving for commuters.

24. Tim Pawlenty found it "unnecessary" because MnSCU was fixing its system already "through internal actions and policy changes".

25. Tim Pawlenty was an advocate for charter schools and was praised by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools for his education policies.

26. In the budget process, Tim Pawlenty made an effort to preserve education funding while cutting other government spending.

27. In June 2006, Tim Pawlenty signed a $999.9-million public works bill that included funding for additional work on the Northstar Commuter rail line, an expanded Faribault prison, a bioscience building at the University of Minnesota, and science facilities at Minnesota State University in Mankato.

28. Tim Pawlenty worked throughout 2006 to fund a Minnesota Twins baseball stadium in Minneapolis.

29. Tim Pawlenty won, defeating Hatch by a margin of less than one percent, though both the state House and Senate gained DFL majorities.

30. Tim Pawlenty won the election with 43.8 percent of the vote.

31. In 2002, Tim Pawlenty wanted to run for governor, but party leaders made it clear they favored businessman Brian Sullivan.

32. Tim Pawlenty was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1992, winning 49.1 percent of the vote in District 38B.

33. Tim Pawlenty entered state politics in 1990 as a campaign advisor for Jon Grunseth's losing bid for Minnesota governor.

34. Tim Pawlenty was not selected as Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate, but served as co-chair of Romney's campaign.

35. Tim Pawlenty was rumored to be a contender for both the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominations during the 2008 election, and he officially sought the 2012 Republican presidential nomination from May to August 2011.

36. Tim Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and raised in nearby South St Paul.