• Office Sought: Governor of Washington
• Birth Date: March 24, 1947
• Web site: http://www.governor.wa.gov/

Education

• Gonzaga University, JD
• University of Washington, BA

Chris Gregoire was born in Adrian, Mich., but moved with her mother to Washington state after her mother's divorce. The two settled on a small farm in Auburn, where Gregoire lived until she went to the University of Washington. She received a bachelor's degree in speech and sociology, but couldn't find a job in teaching, so she became a clerk-typist in a state parole office.

She later moved to Everett, where she met her future husband, Mike, when both worked with the state welfare investigation unit. She went to law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane and after a year, was married.

After law school, she was hired for the state attorney general's Eastern Washington office in Spokane. She later became the first woman deputy attorney general and moved to Olympia, where the family still resides.

In 1988, she was tapped as director of the state Department of Ecology. In 1992, she won the first of three terms as state attorney general. When her longtime ally Gov. Gary Locke announced in the summer of 2003 that he wouldn't seek a third term, Gregoire jumped into the race.

Gregoire was elected governor in 2004, winning by a mere 129 votes out of 2.9 million ballots cast.

Gregoire and her husband have two daughters.