Jan Brewer (R)

Political Start

Later, when married with children, Brewer's interest in politics sprung out of her concern for her three kids' educations. She began attending school board meetings in Deer Valley Ariz., in 1981, and was unimpressed. "I said that I could do a job just as well as those people were doing ... if not better," she told the Arizona Republic in late 2008.

Brewer intended, then, to run for the board, but saw an opening in her local legislative district instead. "I thought, 'Well, maybe I could have bigger a impact on education by going to the Legislature,' " she told the Arizona Daily Star.

Nearly every race Brewer has run has been contested. Often, her opponents were more experienced; Brewer has acknowledged being "dumbfounded" when launching her first campaign and learning that politics required asking total strangers to sign her nominating petitions. She won her first election and became the state representative, a position she'd keep for three years before winning a position in the state Senate. Seven years later, she'd advanced to majority whip.

Brewer then became a Maricopa County supervisor, overseeing Phoenix and the surrounding area. She took office in the fourth-largest county in the nation when Governing magazine called it one of the worst-run counties in the nation. The county's budget shortfall was so large, it was borrowing money to meet payroll. When she left that office, after serving as chairman of the board, Maricopa County's "sparkling reputation" was "one of the best" in the country.

Arizona Secretary of State

Media reports called the 2002 Arizona secretary of state race "often down-and-dirty" and noted that the two frontrunners had "been taking jabs at each other since the early days of the primary."

Republican primary opponent Sal DiCiccio accused Brewer of raising property taxes as a county supervisor (she voted to lower the tax rate, but the county collected more revenue because of an increase in property valuations).

Brewer won the primary with 45 percent of the vote. Her opponents in the general election were Chris Cummiskey (D) and Sean Nottingham (Libertarian), whom she fought on a largely conservative, anti-abortion rights platform. She also supported reform of the state's voting system, suggesting during her campaign ways to reduce fraud and tactics to increase voter turnout.Brewer won by a narrow margin,just 23,000 votes away from Cummiskey.

As secretary of state, Brewer instituted a vote-by-fax program for overseas military troops, which was later adopted by other municipalities, like San Francisco. She also helped marshal the changes brought by 2004's Proposition 200, which required Arizonans to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote and idenfication at the polls.

Governor

Brewer became governor when Janet Napolitano ascended to Homeland Security Department secretary in January 2009. She is running for a full-term in 2010, and faces a primary fight from State Treasurer Dean Martin (R) and Owen "Buz" Mills (R).

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