James Richard "Rick" Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American (United States) politician. He is the 47th and incumbent Governor of Texas (List of Governors of Texas), having held the office since 2000. He is a member of the Republican Party (Republican Party (United States)).

Elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998, he assumed office as governor in December 2000 when Governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to two full terms in 2002 and 2006.

Perry served as chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2008, succeeding Sonny Perdue of Georgia (Georgia (U.S. state)). He now serves as Finance Chair.

Perry holds all records for Texas gubernatorial tenure, having broken both Allan Shivers consecutive service record of 7 1/2 years in June 2008 and Bill Clements total service record of eight years (over two non-consecutive terms) in December 2008. As a result, the Dallas Morning News reported in December 2008 that Perry has the distinction of being the only governor in modern Texas history to have appointed at least one person to every possible state office, board, or commission position which requires gubernatorial appointment (as well as to several elected offices to which the governor can appoint someone to fill an unexpired term, such as five of the nine current members of the Texas Supreme Court). Should Perry complete his current term on January 18, 2011, he will become the first Governor of Texas to complete two consecutive four-year terms. He is also the second longest-serving current Governor in the United States (North Dakota Governor John Hoeven is the longest-serving, having taken office six days before Perry).

Perry has announced his intention to run for an unprecedented third consecutive four-year term in 2010. He faced a challenge in the Republican primary election from U.S. Senator (United States Senate) Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Wharton County Republican Party Chairwoman and businesswoman Debra Medina (Debra Medina (politician)).