Granholm, Jennifer

Jennifer Granholm was born February 5, 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia to Shirley Alfreda Dowden and Victor Ivar Granholm. At the age of four, Granholm's family moved to California; she grew up in Anaheim, San Jose, and San Carlos. Granholm earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1984 and continued her education at Harvard Law School. After receiving her J.D. in 1987, Granholm moved to Michigan where she began her career as a law clerk for Judge Damon Keith of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1990 she became a U. S. Prosecutor in Detroit, and served as corporation counsel for Wayne County from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the general counsel for the Detroit and Wayne County Stadium Authority.

Granholm entered statewide politics in 1998 when she ran for Attorney General on the Democratic ticket. She was the only Democrat elected to statewide office that year and served in the position through 2002. Towards the end of her term she had gained enough statewide recognition to enter the governor's race. Announcing her candidacy in March of 2001, she defeated both former governor James Blanchard and House Democratic Whip David Bonior to win the Democratic primary. In November of 2002, she won the general election, defeating Republican Lieutenant Governor Dick Posthumus to become Michigan's first female governor.

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