Mike Easley
73rd Governor of North Carolina
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 6, 2001
Preceded by	Jim Hunt
Born	March 23, 1950 (1950-03-23) (age 58) Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Mary Easley
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic

Michael Francis (Mike) Easley (born March 23, 1950) is the current governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina. He is a Democrat and North Carolina's second Catholic governor. Thomas Burke was the first^[1][2], though Easley is the first elected by popular vote.

Easley was raised a Roman Catholic in otherwise overwhelmingly Protestant Nash County, North Carolina. His father, Alexander Easley,^[3] owned one of the two big tobacco warehouses in the area. Easley earned a degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972. He then attended the North Carolina Central University School of Law, earning his J.D. degree in 1976. His wife Mary Easley is a professor of law at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina and worked for ten years as a prosecutor.

Easley was elected District Attorney, one of the youngest ever in the state, in 1982.^[4]

A Democrat, Easley ran unsuccessfully in that party's primary for the U.S. Senate; he lost to former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, who himself lost to incumbent Jesse Helms. Easley was elected North Carolina Attorney General in 1992, serving during the administration of Governor Jim Hunt.

In 2000, Easley ran to succeed the term-limited Hunt as Governor of North Carolina. He defeated incumbent Lt. Governor Dennis A. Wicker in the Democratic party primary, and then successfully challenged former Charlotte mayor Richard Vinroot (R) in the general election, to become the first Governor of North Carolina in 28 years to not be named James. Easley was reelected in 2004, running against New Hanover County's state senator, Patrick Ballantine.