Lincoln Davenport Chafee (pronounce /ˈtʃeɪ fiː/ CHAY-fee) (born March 26, 1953) is a former United States Senator from Rhode Island. Running as a Republican, he lost his re-election bid in 2006 to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. In the summer of 2007, he left the Republican Party and became an independent. He is currently a visiting scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.