Janice Kay Brewer (née Drinkwine; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015, as a member of the Republican Party. Prior to this, Brewer was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives, Arizona Senate, and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and served as Secretary of State of Arizona from 2003 to 2009.

Born in California, Brewer graduated from Glendale Community College and moved to Arizona. She ran for a seat in the state house to influence education policy while her children were in school. In the Arizona Senate she became majority whip in 1993, and was known for her proposals to put content warnings on profane albums and to create a position of lieutenant governor so the secretary of state would not be next in line to the governorship. Brewer became chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 1997, after campaigning on opposition to a tax it levied.

Elected as secretary of state in 2003, Brewer served until she assumed the governorship as part of the line of succession when Governor Janet Napolitano resigned to become U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Brewer was responsible for addressing the state's deficit. She authorized spending cuts and pushed for a sales tax that was unpopular with her party but approved by referendum. Brewer became a national political figure in 2010 when she signed SB 1070 into law, authorizing the strictest immigration policy in the United States. The law boosted her appeal within the Republican Party, and she was elected to a full term later that year. Brewer was a prominent opponent of President Barack Obama, especially on immigration and healthcare, such that an image of her waving her finger at Obama on an airport tarmac became an iconic representation of her political career. Despite opposing his Affordable Care Act, Brewer forced her party to pass its Medicaid expansion in Arizona by refusing to sign any laws until it was done. Brewer received national attention again when she vetoed SB 1062, which would have legalized discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in Arizona. Other policies implemented by Brewer included performance-based funding for public schools, Child Protective Services reform, at-will employment for government employees, and loosened restrictions on concealed carry.

Brewer disputed that she was term limited in 2014 as she had only served part of her first term, but she chose not to run for reelection and was succeeded by Doug Ducey. During the 2016 presidential election she campaigned for Donald Trump and was considered a possible running mate for him. She distanced herself from Trumpism through her opposition to the American Health Care Act and the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but continued to endorse Trump.

Jan Brewer was born Janice Kay Drinkwine on September 26, 1944, to Edna Clarice (née Bakken) and Perry Wilford Drinkwine in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Brewer's father worked at a United States Navy munitions depot in Hawthorne, Nevada, as a civilian supervisor. She lived with her parents and her brother Paul at the military base until she was ten years old, when her father was afflicted with lung cancer. They moved to Tujunga, Los Angeles, where her father died when she was eleven. Her mother opened a dress store to support the children, and Brewer helped her mother by cleaning, working the register, and keeping inventory. She graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in 1962.

Brewer attended Glendale Community College in California and received a certificate as a radiological technician in 1963. Her decision to study radiology was influenced by her father's death from lung cancer. She married John Brewer in 1963 and they moved to Glendale, California. There she worked as an office manager to support John while he studied to become a chiropractor. The Brewers moved to Arizona in the early 1970s. They first resided in Phoenix, Arizona before settling in Glendale, Arizona, where John worked in chiropractic and real estate.

The Brewers had three children together: Ronald, John, and Michael. Brewer stayed home to raise them while John worked. Ronald was declared not guilty in a sexual assault case in 1989, and he was committed to a public mental health facility where he spent much of his life. His case file was sealed by a Phoenix judge shortly before Brewer became governor. John died of cancer during her second term as secretary of state in 2007, and Ronald died in 2018.

Brewer began attending school board meetings in 1981. She wanted to take a more active role in how her children's education was governed, but she was unfamiliar with the political system and her husband explained to her how the school board worked. This sparked an interest in politics and she considered running for a school board seat in the Glendale Union High School District, feeling she could do better than the sitting members. When the seat for the 19th district of the Arizona House of Representatives became vacant, she decided this would give her a better position to affect education policy. She was elected to the seat in 1982. Brewer was one of several women, referred to as the "Republican wives", who were elected to the legislature this year. She was reelected in 1984 and was then elected to the Arizona Senate in 1986. Brewer was involved in a car crash in 1988, and was suspected of drunk driving, but she was not arrested because of legislative immunity. She became majority whip of the senate in 1993 and held this position until she left the senate in 1996.