Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has announced that she will not run for a third term and will not challenge the state’s constitution, which puts a two-term limit on the governor’s office.
Despite the Constitutional limit, some Republicans believed that she may have tried a legal challenge in order to get a third term. The Associated Press points out that she claimed there was “ambiguity” on whether to not she served two full terms, since she was elected after President Barack Obama tapped former Gov. Janet Napolitano for a position in 2009. Brewer was then elected again for a full term in 2010.
While some of the GOP candidates didn’t really expect her to mount a legal fight, they still held off on campaigning, notes The Arizona Republic. Now that she’s officially announced that she’s not running, Arizona will see the most wide open election since 2002.
Brewer’s tenure was filled with controversy up to the very end. Her most controversial move was the 2010 law that cracked down on immigration and she also argued with Obama over his health care law. There were questions about the controversial religious discrimination bill, but she eventually decided to veto it, after businesses and groups called for boycotts of the state if it passed.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
