Jon Huntsman, Jr.

Jon Huntsman, Jr. (born March 26, 1960, Palo Alto, California, U.S.) is an American politician who served as governor of Utah (2005–09) and as U.S. ambassador to China (2009–11) and to Russia (2017–19). He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Huntsman was the eldest of nine children in an upper-class Mormon family. He grew up in California and, for a time, near Washington, D.C., when his father, Jon Huntsman, Sr., worked in the administration of U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon. In the 1970s the family moved to Utah, where Huntsman, Sr., founded the petrochemical company Huntsman Chemical Corporation (later called Huntsman Corporation), which grew into a multibillion-dollar business. Huntsman, Jr., dropped out of high school a few months shy of graduation to play in a rock band called Wizard (he later earned his GED). In 1978 Huntsman enrolled at the University of Utah.

His academic career was interrupted the following year when he, like many young members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, embarked on a two-year mission. Huntsman undertook his mission in Taiwan, where he became fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien. He later enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a B.A. in international politics in 1987. In the early 1980s Huntsman worked as a staff assistant in the administration of U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan. He also held several positions under Pres. George H.W. Bush, notably that of U.S. ambassador to Singapore (1992–93), and was a deputy U.S. trade representative (2001–03) for Pres. George W. Bush.

In 2004 Huntsman made a successful bid for the governorship of Utah. He took office in 2005, and in 2008 he was reelected to the post with more than three-fourths of the vote. During his tenure as governor, Huntsman emerged as a moderate voice on such issues as civil unions for same-sex couples, climate change, and immigration. However, he sided with his party on other issues, notably opposing both abortion and gun control. A fiscal conservative, Huntsman implemented large tax cuts. He also oversaw health care reform and increased education funding. In 2009 Huntsman was nominated by Democratic U.S. Pres. Barack Obama to serve as ambassador to China. After being unanimously confirmed by the Senate, he formally stepped down as governor in August. At the time of his resignation, Huntsman’s approval rating was more than 80 percent.

In January 2011 Huntsman announced that he would be stepping down from his ambassadorship, raising speculation that he would make a bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He officially left the post in April 2011, and two months later he announced his candidacy. However, his campaign struggled amid more-conservative and better-known candidates. In January 2012 Huntsman did not contest the Iowa caucuses—in which he received less than 1 percent of the vote—but instead focused on New Hampshire. In that state’s primary he placed third with some 17 percent. Later that month Huntsman suspended his campaign and endorsed Mitt Romney.

In 2017 U.S. Pres. Donald Trump nominated Huntsman to serve as ambassador to Russia. He was easily confirmed by the Senate in September, and shortly thereafter he was sworn into office. His tenure began as the United States investigated allegations that Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election to benefit Trump. Relations between the two countries grew tenser after U.S. intelligence agencies later confirmed Russian interference. In August 2019 Huntsman announced that he was stepping down, and he left the post in October. The following month Huntsman announced that he was running for a third term as governor of Utah. However, he was defeated in the Republican primary in 2020.