The July 2000 election of businessman-turned-politician Vicente Fox (1942-) was monumental in Mexico’s political history because it ousted the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that had ruled the nation for 71 years. It was a victory not only for Fox but for his National Action Party (PAN). The former Coca-Cola Company executive had turned to politics in the 1980s, following a highly successful career in business. In 1987 Fox was elected to the national Chamber of Deputies, and in 1995 he was voted in as governor of his home state of Guanajuato. He promised voters economic and political reform, with a particular emphasis on ridding the nation’s government of seemingly endemic corruption. Fox was sworn into office on December 1, 2000, for a six-year term. In 2003 mid-term elections, Fox’s PAN party lost ground to the PRI.