Born on March 26, 1953, Linc Chafee grew up in Warwick. He graduated with a degree in Classics from Brown University, where he was captain of the wrestling team and received the Francis M. Driscoll Award for leadership, scholarship, and athletics.

After college, Linc worked for seven years as a blacksmith at harness racetracks throughout the United States and Canada. When he returned to Rhode Island, he entered politics, inspired by the path of his father, the late Senator and former Governor John Chafee. He won election in 1985 as a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention, and went on to serve four years on the Warwick City Council, nearly four two-year terms as Mayor of Warwick, and seven years as United States Senator. After leaving the U.S. Senate, he spent two years as Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, during which he wrote Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President.

On November 2nd, 2010, Linc was elected Rhode Island’s first independent Governor. He was inaugurated on January 4, 2011.