Mike Huckabee Biography

Mike Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas and a two-time Republican candidate for president. Mike Huckabee is an ordained minister who earned a B.A. from Ouachita Baptist University in 1975 and a master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1980. He served as pastor of Baptist congregations in Pine Bluff and Texarkana during the 1980s while also heading up the religious television station KBSC (now KLFI). He was elected lieutenant governor of Arkansas in a 1993 special election (after Governor Bill Clinton was elected U.S. president), and took over as governor in 1996 when Guy Tucker resigned after being convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy. Huckabee was re-elected in 1998 and 2002, then announced in 2007 that he would run for the Republican nomination for president. With his Southern roots and pastoral credentials, Huckabee was a favorite candidate of the religious right; he is outspoken opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage. However, he quit the race in March of 2008 after John McCain locked up the nomination.

Later in 2008 he began hosting the political commentary show Huckabee on the Fox News Channel. The show ran until 2015, when Huckabee announced that he would quit hosting the show to explore a presidential bid. On 5 May 2015 he announced that he would, indeed, run for president in 2016. Mike Huckabee is also known for losing weight: diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003, he lost 110 pounds through dieting and running. The events led to his 2005 book on healthy living, Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife and Fork.