Bain Capital yanks presidential latecomer Deval Patrick from website after announcement
President Obama's 2012 campaign hit Mitt Romney hard for his tenure at Bain.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is making a late entry into the Democratic presidential race, and he'll be drawing from a wide-ranging resume that includes time at Bain Capital, the private investment firm co-founded by Republican Mitt Romney.
Patrick, 63, has resigned from Bain, FOX Business confirmed Thursday. He made history as the first black governor of Massachusetts and has close ties to former President Barack Obama and his network of political advisers.
EX-GOV. DEVAL PATRICK ANNOUNCES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID
Newly re-elected Massachusetts. Gov. Deval Patrick, right, moments before being administered the oath of office during ceremonies, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Patrick might face hostility for his boardroom background on the campaign trail. Frontrunner Sen. Elizabeth Warren has gone after Wall Street, and even Patrick ally Obama has attacked Republicans on an area where Patrick, too, is vulnerable: Bain Capital.
Patrick's biography page on Bain's website turned into a 403 error page on Thursday morning following his official presidential announcement.
Patrick won his 2006 bid for Massachusetts governor and succeeded Republican Mitt Romney, who departed to run for president. Patrick joined Bain in 2015.
Obama's 2012 campaign hit Romney hard for his tenure at Bain, accusing him of outsourcing American jobs and thinking his business experience made him qualified to be president.
"When you're president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot," Obama said in 2012.
Patrick has faced tough questions about his past before. In 2006, he told The Boston Globe his executive positions at corporations like Texaco and Coca-Cola did not mean he had abandoned his background as a civil rights lawyer.
Deval Patrick, Former Governor of Massachusetts, speaking at the AIPAC Policy Conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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"I've fixed hard problems of all kinds, civil rights and business problems," Patrick said. "It's the stuff I like to do, and I'm good at it, as a matter of fact ... and I never left my conscience at the door."
"So I should go and become the general counsel at Coke and take on all those headaches and say I'm going to do this for free?" Patrick said.
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"It makes some people uncomfortable because they think I belong in a certain box," he said. "In the view of some people, you can only believe in civil rights if you work as a civil rights lawyer. I just don't buy that."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.