Governor Napolitano was officially nominated by President Barack Obama to be his Secretary of Homeland Security. She was confirmed in the post on January 20. Because Arizona does not have a Lieutenant Governor, Brewer, as Secretary of State, stood first in the line of succession, and was sworn in as governor the next day.
Brewer will be up for election to a full term in 2010. If she does win a full term, she will have to leave office in 2015; the Arizona Constitution limits members of the executive branch to two consecutive terms, with partial terms counting toward the term limit