Tom Corbett
Thomas Wingett Corbett Jr. is an American politician, lobbyist, and former prosecutor who served as the 46th governor of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015, and as of 2026 is the most recent Republican to hold that office. Corbett was also the attorney general of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2005 to 2011.
Born in Philadelphia, Corbett is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College and St. Mary's University School of Law and served as a captain in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Corbett began his career as an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 1976. Corbett then joined the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, serving from 1980 to 1983, upon entering private practice. In 1988 Corbett was first elected to public office as a Township Commissioner in the Pittsburgh suburb of Shaler, before serving as the United States Attorney for Western Pennsylvania from 1989 to 1993 in the George H. W. Bush administration.
In 1995, Corbett was appointed to fill the remainder of Ernie Preate's term as Attorney General of Pennsylvania, until 1997. Corbett then reentered private practice and worked as the general counsel for Waste Management, Inc before being elected Attorney General of Pennsylvania in 2004. Corbett was then reelected to a second term in 2008, serving a total of two non-consecutive tenures as attorney general from 1995 to 1997, and 2005 to 2011.
Corbett was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2010, defeating Democratic nominee Dan Onorato in the general election. He was the second Pennsylvania attorney general to win the state's highest office. Corbett lost his bid for a second term to Democrat Tom Wolf in 2014, marking the first time an incumbent Pennsylvania governor lost their reelection bid since William Bigler in 1854, and the first time in history that a Republican governor lost reelection in Pennsylvania. After his defeat, he returned to private life and registered as a lobbyist in 2021.
Early life, education, and early career
Corbett was born in Philadelphia, the son of Mary Bernardine and Thomas W. Corbett. He received his Bachelor's degree at Lebanon Valley College and was employed as a 9th grade teacher for one year at Pine Grove Area School District Corbett then earned his J.D. from St. Mary's University Law School. He served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's 28th Infantry Division from 1971 to 1984, rising to the rank of captain.Corbett's career has been split between private practice and civil service. He began his legal career as an assistant district attorney in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County in 1976. After three and a half years, he was hired in 1980 as an assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
In 1983, Corbett entered private practice as an associate partner at Rose, Schmidt, Hasley & DiSalle. From 1988 and 1989, Corbett won his first election as a township commissioner in the Pittsburgh suburb of Shaler Township.
In 1988, a judge appointed him to monitor the Allegheny County jail while it was under the court's supervision. In 1989, Senators John Heinz and Arlen Specter recommended to President Bush that he nominate Corbett as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Corbett served in the post until May 1993, when he was dismissed by President Bill Clinton.
Corbett then returned to private practice, also serving as an adviser to the gubernatorial campaign of Tom Ridge. Following Ridge's victory, Corbett served on a number of state commissions including the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which he served as chairman.
Corbett left office in 1997 and again went into the private sector, first as general counsel for Waste Management, Inc., then opening his own practice.
Attorney General
1995 appointment and tenure
In 1995, Corbett was appointed to the position of State Attorney General by Governor Ridge to fill the remainder of the term left by the conviction of Ernie Preate. As a condition of his Senate confirmation, Senate Democrats required him to pledge that he would not run for re-election in 1996. This is a common practice in Pennsylvania for appointments to elected offices. Jerry Pappert made the same pledge in 2003 when he succeeded Mike Fisher as State Attorney General. While Attorney General, Corbett's office received multiple allegations of sexism and derogatory treatment of women. One woman claimed that while working in the office that executives had shared pornographic emails between one another, forcing the office into a $15,000 settlement.During one of Corbett's first years as Pennsylvania's Attorney General, in September 1996, Corbett and others granted the Lehigh Carbon Community College and the Cedar Crest EmergiCenter full membership of the Drugs Don't Work Here Program. The DDWH Program is a program that assesses substance abuse in the workplace. Three months later in December, Corbett assured that a used-car dealer in Northampton County to pay violations for state laws, in which the dealer, Matthew Connolly, complied to pay the fines.
Corbett considered challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter in the 1998 primary, although he ultimately did not run.
2004 and 2008 elections
After early returns were reported, the Associated Press called the race in Democratic nominee Jim Eisenhower's favor, only to retract that call later as the numbers closed. Corbett declared victory the following morning, having defeated Eisenhower by nearly 110,000 votes, winning 50.4 percent to 48.3 percent. Green Party candidate Marakay Rogers captured 1.3 percent of the vote. File:TomCorbett-McCainRally2008 flipped.jpg|thumb|right|190px|Corbett speaking at a Pittsburgh rally for presidential candidate John McCain in 2008Corbett was re-elected in 2008. He won with the largest vote total of any Republican in the state's history. He defeated Democrat John Morganelli, bucking the trend of Democratic success in Pennsylvania that year.
Tenure
In October 2008, Corbett prosecuted four individuals who were part of a $9 million meth ring in Berks and Montgomery County.Corbett convened a grand jury in 2009 to investigate longstanding allegations of child sexual abuse by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The grand jury uncovered evidence of criminal misconduct, and a 40-count indictment against Sandusky was issued in 2011, ultimately leading to Sandusky's criminal conviction in 2012. Corbett has been criticized for the three year time span between the grand jury investigation and Sandusky's indictment, and for his gubernatorial staff approving a $3 million grant to Sandusky's Second Mile charity for children, which, according to the grand jury findings, served as a repository for potential sex-abuse victims.
On March 23, 2010, Corbett, along with 13 other state attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against the mandates in the just-signed federal Healthcare Bill, claiming it is unconstitutional. While Corbett personally believed in the federal Healthcare Bill's unconstitutionality, Corbett said he intended to implement the law once he was Governor of Pennsylvania, according to one spokesperson.
Corbett commented, regarding Dwight Evans, that while Evans had the constitutional right to criticize Corbett as attorney general, it would be a matter of statewide concern if Evans were to cut funding due to a legal position taken . As of January 2011, a total of 27 states have joined this lawsuit.
In 2010, Corbett subpoenaed the social media app, Twitter, in order to "testify and give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of Pennsylvania". Corbett ordered Twitter to give information about two Twitter accounts that had been anonymously criticizing him. One of them was responsible for "exposing the hypocrisy of Tom Corbett". Had Twitter failed to appear in court with the information regarding the accounts, Corbett would hold the company accountable and also issue an arrest warrant for the Twitter representative for contempt of court.
2010 gubernatorial campaign
On March 17, 2009, it was reported that Corbett had formed an exploratory committee and had begun filing the paperwork necessary to begin a run for Governor of Pennsylvania. On September 15, 2009, Corbett formally declared his candidacy. He faced State Representative Sam Rohrer in the May 18, 2010, Republican primary and defeated him with nearly 70% of the vote. In the general election, he faced Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, who won the Democratic primary with 45% of the vote.In May 2010 Corbett filed a criminal subpoena against Twitter ordering them to divulge "any and all subscriber information" of the person behind two accounts that were criticizing the Republican candidate. Corbett's office denied that the subpoenas were related to the criticism, but rather to an ongoing grand jury investigation. Corbett's office ultimately withdrew the subpoenas.
In July 2010, Corbett garnered attention for suggesting that some of the unemployed are exploiting the extension of unemployment benefits prior to seeking employment, and later noted the prevalence of "help wanted" ads in the newspapers as evidence of the availability of employment.
In September 2010, at the first gubernatorial debate, Corbett again gained attention for seemingly violating his "no-tax pledge" in suggesting that he would consider raising the payroll contribution tax.
On November 2, 2010, Corbett was elected Governor of Pennsylvania, defeating Onorato by 357,975 votes.