45 Facts About Jan Brewer

Jan Brewer served as the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015 as a member of the Republican Party.

Jan Brewer served in the House from 1983 until 1987 when she became a member of the Arizona Senate, where she became majority whip in 1993.

Jan Brewer became chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 1997 after campaigning on opposition to a tax it levied.

Jan Brewer was then elected secretary of state, where she served from 2003 to 2009.

Jan Brewer became a national political figure in 2010 when she signed SB 1070 into law, authorizing the strictest immigration policy in the United States.

Jan Brewer disputed that she was term limited in 2014 as she had only served part of her first term, but she chose not to run for reelection and was succeeded by Doug Ducey.

Jan Brewer campaigned for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and was considered a possible running mate for his campaign.

Jan Brewer distanced herself from Trumpism through her opposition to the American Health Care Act and the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but continued to endorse Trump.

Jan Brewer was born Janice Kay Drinkwine on September 26,1944, to Edna Clarice and Perry Wilford Drinkwine in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Jan Brewer graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in 1962.

Jan Brewer received a certificate as a radiological technician in 1963.

Jan Brewer married John Brewer in 1963 and they moved to Glendale, California.

Jan Brewer was reelected in 1984 and was then elected to the Arizona Senate in 1986.

Jan Brewer was involved in a car crash in 1988 and was suspected of drunk driving, but she was not arrested because of legislative immunity.

Jan Brewer became majority whip of the Arizona Senate in 1993 and held this position until she left the Senate in 1996.

Jan Brewer decided to run for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 1996 when it approved an unpopular sales tax to fund the construction of the Bank One Ballpark.

Jan Brewer was reelected as Arizona secretary of state in 2006 with 57 percent of the vote.

Jan Brewer was elected in her own right on November 2,2010, to the office of governor in the state's general election.

Jan Brewer was sworn in for a full term on January 3,2011, at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.

Jan Brewer appealed a court ruling against SB 1070 in 2011, petitioning the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the issue.

Jan Brewer worked with the Arizona Senate to remove Mathis in November 2011.

Jan Brewer wrote a memoir in 2011 titled Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border.

Jan Brewer resumed her focus on Arizona's economy when she entered her second term, passing a budget with the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011 that cut spending by $1.1 billion.

Jan Brewer vetoed many Republican bills in her second term, including a bill in 2011 that would have required presidential candidates to show a birth certificate to run in Arizona, which was supported by the Birther movement that accused Obama of secretly being a foreign national.

Jan Brewer challenged her own party on the issue of Medicaid expansion in early 2013.

When negotiations failed, Jan Brewer called a special session of the legislature in June 2013.

In November 2012, Jan Brewer declared she was looking into what she called "ambiguity" in Arizona's term-limit law to seek a third term.

Jan Brewer announced on March 12,2014, that she would not seek a third term.

Jan Brewer endorsed Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, praising his views on immigration.

In late March 2017, during a phone interview, Jan Brewer expressed opposition to President Trump's American Health Care Act: "This would devastate the most vulnerable, this would devastate rural hospitals, they will probably close down and those jobs would be lost".

Jan Brewer preferred traditional conservative candidates in 2024 Republican primaries, endorsing them instead of candidates backed by Trump.

Jan Brewer passed her economic development plan, titled the Arizona Competitiveness Package, in February 2011.

Jan Brewer signed HB 2881 on May 11,2010, which withheld funding from any schools that taught resentment against a racial group or promoted the overthrow of the government.

Jan Brewer said in 2012 that she did not believe the scientific consensus that global warming is man-made.

Jan Brewer issued an executive order on the environment on February 2,2010, to establish Arizona's Policy on Climate Change.

Jan Brewer vetoed the controversial SB 1062 in 2014 that would have made it legal for businesses to refuse service to gay customers.

Jan Brewer approved a budget that cut spousal benefits for domestic partners of government employees in 2009, reversing a policy implemented by Napolitano the previous year.

Jan Brewer supported Arizona Proposition 107 as secretary of state in 2006, which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

Jan Brewer created a Task Force on Human Trafficking in April 2013 and implemented its recommendations by creating the Arizona Human Trafficking Council in March 2014.

Jan Brewer vetoed a bill on April 18,2011, that would have required anyone running for president to have proof of US citizenship.

Jan Brewer reformed state employment in 2012 so that any new government employees after September 28 were under at-will employment.

Jan Brewer canceled her plan to close the department in December 2010 without providing a reason for her change of position.

Jan Brewer signed a bill declaring the Colt revolver Arizona's official state firearm, which was criticized for its passage shortly after the 2011 Tucson shooting and by Native American groups whose tribes were historically in conflict with people armed with the revolver.

Jan Brewer signed a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in April 2012, but it was struck down by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Jan Brewer signed Arizona SB 1070 into law in 2010, causing national controversy.