Ruth Ann Minner was the first, and to date only, woman elected governor of Delaware, serving from 2001 to 2009.Minner was widowed at 32 and raised her children as a single mother, earning her GED and attending college while working two jobs.
A Democrat, she was elected to the Delaware House of Representatives in 1975 and served there until her elected to the Delaware Senate in 1983.
She sponsored the Delaware Land and Water Conservation Act while in the Senate. In 1993, Minner was elected lieutenant governor of Delaware, alongside Governor Tom Carper.
They served two terms before her 2001 election as governor. Among the new laws she signed was the 2002 Clean Indoor Air Act, banning smoking in restaurants and bars, and a 2005 bill that made.
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