Who was the first governor of the eighth least populous U.S. state?
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ), officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and the second most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states. Its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound. It also shares a small maritime border with New York.
Dave Treen David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. (July 16, 1928 – October 29, 2009), was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. In 1979 he was elected as the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. It was a sign of changing party affiliations among white conservatives in the state, who have comprised a majority of the population since at least 1900. In 1972 Treen was the first Republican elected in modern times from this state to the U.S. House of Representatives.