Daniel Mongiardo

Frank Daniel Mongiardo is an American physician and politician from Kentucky. Mongiardo is a Democrat and was the 54th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 2007 until 2011. He was a member of the Kentucky State Senate from 2001 to 2007. He also ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, narrowly losing in the general election to Jim Bunning and again in 2010, losing in the primary election to Jack Conway.

Mongiardo was born to Italian immigrants in Hazard, Kentucky. His father Jimmy owns a whiskey store and coin laundry and his mother Katherine died in 1988 of colon cancer. Mongiardo attended Transylvania University and received his medical degree at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1986. From 1986 to 2000, Mongiardo worked as an ear, nose and throat surgeon, performing his residency in Lexington. Mongiardo helped open a free health clinic and became chief of staff at the Hazard Appalachian Hospital. He entered politics in 2000 and was elected to the state senate, after defeating incumbent Glenn Freeman in an expensive and bitter Democratic primary with 49.1 percent of the vote and then winning the general election with 70 percent of the vote.

Source: Wikipedia