Dawn Gibbons | |
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First Lady of Nevada | |
In role January 1, 2007 – July 21, 2010 |
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Governor | Jim Gibbons |
Preceded by | Dema Guinn |
Succeeded by | Kathleen Teipner Sandoval |
Member of the Nevada Assembly from the 25th district |
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In office 1991–1991 |
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Preceded by | Jim Gibbons |
Succeeded by | Jim Gibbons |
In office 1999–2005 |
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Preceded by | Brian Sandoval |
Succeeded by | Heidi Gansert |
Personal details | |
Born |
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
March 9, 1954
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Jim Gibbons (1985–2010, divorced), Jim Hooban (2013-, engaged) |
Children | 1 |
Dawn Gibbons (born March 9, 1954) is an American politician from Nevada. She is the former First Lady of Nevada from 2007 to 2010, as well as the former wife of Governor Jim Gibbons; they divorced on July 21, 2010.
Dawn Gibbons was born in Atlanta, Georgia and moved to Nevada at the age of 20. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a bachelor's degree in geological studies. Following graduation, she owned and operated two wedding chapels in Reno, Nevada. During this period, she met her future husband, Jim Gibbons, then a Delta Air Lines pilot. They married in 1986. Together they have one child, Jimmy, who has served in the United States Navy.
In 1991, Dawn Gibbons was appointed to the Nevada Assembly, filling a vacancy created when her husband resigned his seat in order to serve in the Persian Gulf War. She resigned from the state legislature in April 1991, allowing her husband to reclaim his seat. Following her husband's reappointment to the seat, she resumed her career in business until 1998, when she was elected to the Nevada Assembly, serving from 1999 to 2005. During the 2006 election season, she was defeated in the Republican Party primary to succeed her husband in the U.S. House of Representatives, finishing in third place behind Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller, the eventual winner of both the primary and the general elections, and State Assemblywoman Sharron Angle. In that same election cycle, her husband won both the Republican primary and the general election to become Governor of Nevada.