Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-born American politician, attorney, educator, author, political commentator, and a member of the Democratic Party who served as the Attorney General of Michigan from 1999 to 2003 and as the Governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011.

She was born on February 5, 1959, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As of today, she is working as a CNN political contributor. She has also taught at the University of California and gave a speech for ted.com.

Granholm attended San Carlos High School and graduated in 1977. She then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1984 with a B.A. in Political Science and French. She was the first person in her family to do so. She then earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University in 1987.

After graduating, Granholm clerked for Damon Keith from 1987 to 1988. In 1998, she worked for the Michael Dukakis campaign for President. From 1989 to 1991, she worked as an attorney in the Wayne County executive. In 1991, she became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. In 1995 she was appointed to serve as Corporation Counsel for Wayne County, becoming the youngest person to hold the position.

This politician took part in the 1998 election. She was unopposed for the Democratic nomination but she faced Republican John Smietanka, the 1994 nominee and former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, in the general election. Granholm defeated Smietanka by 52.09% votes to 49.91% and was elected as the Governor in 2002. She served a single term to 2003.

In the 2002 election, she faced former U.S. Amba s sador to Canada and former Governor James Blanchard and U.S. Representative and former House Minority Whip David E. Bonior. She won the Democratic primary with 47.69% votes to Bonior's 27.99% and Blanchard's 24.32%. Her first term lasted from 2003 to 2007.

Granholm ran for a second term in the 2006 election. Her opponent was Republican businessman and politician Dick DeVos. She won with 56% of votes in her favor. Her Second Term lasted from 2007-2011. More information can be found in her bio and wiki. She has also given a speech for ted.com on a proposal of clean energy. The speech can be found on speech YouTube. She also has a twitter account.

Jennifer was born to Shirley Alfreda and Victor Ivan Granholm, both of whom were bank tellers. Despite being born in Canada, she moved from Canada to California with her family, the US at a very early age, four to be precise. She grew up in Anaheim, San Jose, and San Carlos. She had first attempted to launch a Hollywood acting career but was unsuccessful. She abandoned her efforts at the age of 21.

While attending Harvard, she met a fellow law student and Michigan native Daliel Mulhern. He was a theology graduate from Yale University. They got married in 1986 and surprisingly, decided to take each other’s last name as their middle names. Their family consists of three children as well, Kathryn, Cecelia and Jack. As Governor of Michigan, Granholm was afforded the courtesy title of Her Excellency. She is also a relative of Rolf Olofsson, the husband of former Swedish Centre Party politician Maud Olofsson. 

Granholm has a net worth of 1 million dollars. She and her husband taught two cla s ses at the University of California and got a combined salary deal of $300,000.