Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-American politician, lawyer, educator, author, and political commentator. Granholm was the 47th governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011. In December 2020, president-elect Joe Biden nominated Granholm to be Secretary of Energy in the incoming Biden Administration.

About Jennifer Granholm in brief

Summary Jennifer GranholmJennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-American politician, lawyer, educator, author, and political commentator. Granholm was the 47th governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011. She was the first woman to serve as Michigan’s governor. In January 2017, she was hired as a CNN political contributor. In December 2020, president-elect Joe Biden nominated Granholm to be Secretary of Energy in the incoming Biden Administration. She is the daughter of Shirley Alfreda and Victor Ivar Granholm, both bank tellers. Her maternal grandparents came from Ireland and Newfoundland, respectively. Her paternal grandfather, who immigrated to Canada in the 1930s, came from Robertsfors, Sweden, where his father was the mayor. In 1980, at the age of 21 years, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and worked for John B. Anderson’s campaign for President of the United States as an Independent in the 1980 election. In 1978 she appeared on The Dating Game, and held jobs as a tour guide at Universal Studios and in customer service at the Los Angeles Times. She then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, the first person in her family to attend college. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 and then a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. After leaving public office, Granholm took a position at U. C. Berkeley and, with her husband Daniel Mulhern, authored A Governor’s Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Future.

She became host of The War Room with Jennifer Granholm on Current TV. She also worked for the presidential transition team for Barack Obama before he assumed office in January 2009. In 2010, she helped to smuggle clothes and medical supplies to Jewish people in the Soviet Union and became involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement. In 2011, she earned a degree from Harvard University, also with honors, in Political Science and French. After graduating from Harvard School, she clerked for Judge Damon Keith, a senior judge on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and became an Assistant Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1991. After working as an attorney in Wayne County executive office from 1989 to 1991, she become an Assistant S.J.A. in 1989. In 1995 she was appointed to the Wayne County Corporation Counsel. In 1998, she ran for Attorney General of Michigan and defeated 37-year Democratic incumbent Frank J. Kelley by 52% to 48% and served from 1999 to 2003. She ran for Governor in 2002 to succeed Republican John Engler and defeated Engler’s Lieutenant Governor Dick Posthumus by 51% to 47% and became Michigan’s first female governor on January 1, 2003. She was re-elected to a second term in 2006 against Republican businessman Dick DeVos by a large margin and served until Jan 1, 2011, when she left office due to state term-limits.