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Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. (pronounced /ˈkrɪst/; born July 24, 1956) is an American politician who is the forty-fourth and current Governor of Florida. A member of the Republican Party, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General. He was elected governor in 2006 with 52.4% of the vote (against opponent Jim Davis), and took office the following year. As Florida Attorney General, an office he held from 2002 until his election as governor, Crist was noted for his efforts to expand the authority of the office to prosecute civil rights violations and protect the environment, as well as his involvement in the Terri Schiavo case, where he broke with the stance of governor Jeb Bush. As governor he has taken conservative positions on a broad range of social issues, including support for gun rights and capital punishment and opposition to elective abortion, same-sex marriage and LGBT adoption. He has diverged from Republican orthodoxy on economic and environmental policy, particularly while working with the Obama administration on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, opposing some forms of offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and using state funds to purchase land in an effort to restore the Florida Everglades. He has been noted for reaching out to Florida's minority communities, particularly the African-American and Asian communities. He gained national prominence by taking an active role in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, both for endorsing and campaigning for Republican candidate John McCain and for a political controversy sparked when he signed a bill moving the presidential primary date in Florida to January 29, 2008. While his term as governor ends in January 2011, Crist announced on May 12, 2009 that he will not run for re-election as governor and instead will run for the United States Senate. wikipedia