Janet Huckabee

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Janet McCain Huckabee (born July 16, 1955 in Lake Charles, Louisiana ^[1]) is the wife of former 2008 Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. She was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1996 until January 2007.

Janet McCain moved with her family as an infant to Hope, Arkansas. She graduated from Hope High School in 1974, and married her high school sweetheart Mike Huckabee in May of that same year. Within two years of their marriage, she was diagnosed with spinal cancer. Faced with the possibility of paralysis and the inability to have children, she underwent surgery and six weeks of radiation therapy. She eventually recovered and gave birth to three children: two sons, John Mark and David, and a daughter, Sarah.

In 2002, she was the Republican Party nominee for Arkansas Secretary of State in the same year her husband was seeking a second term as Governor. She was defeated by the Democratic Party nominee, State Land Commissioner Charlie Daniels. Her husband fared better in his reelection bid, defeating his Democratic opponent, State Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher.

The following year, she earned an undergraduate degree from John Brown University.