Governor Brad Henry

Brad Henry, a third generation Oklahoman, was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Henry studied at the University of Oklahoma as a President’s Leadership Scholar, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1985. In 1988, he received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, after which he returned to Shawnee to practice law with his father. He was a member of the Oklahoma State Senate for ten years. Henry became governor in January 2003 and was reelected in November 2006. He took office in the midst of a severe budget crisis but forged a bipartisan agreement among legislative leaders that shielded education and health care from massive cuts. A political moderate, he advocated upholding the death penalty and opposed gun control but was also pro-choice, vetoing a measure in 2008 that would have required women to have an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion.