PHOENIX — Jan Brewer officially became Arizona’s 24th governor late Tuesday.

New Gov. Jan Brewer and her husband, John, left, are escorted to her inaugural Wednesday by Maj. Gen. Hugo Salazar, the adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)

The move came after Janet Napolitano submitted her resignation letter to Brewer, the secretary of state, at 4:52 p.m., just hours after the U.S. Senate confirmed her as Barack Obama’s pick to head the Department of Homeland Security. That move automatically elevates Brewer, first in line of succession, to the top spot.

In the same single voice vote, senators also confirmed five other Obama picks for his Cabinet without dissent.

New Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

But efforts to add Hillary Clinton to that list as Secretary of State faltered when Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, objected to having her included in the unanimous confirmation. A vote on her is now set for today.

While Brewer became governor the moment the letter was delivered, a formal swearingin is not set to take place until this afternoon. The timing of that ceremony was set last week by aides to Brewer to give enough breathing room to ensure that Napolitano’s nomination did not run into the same kind of problems as Clinton in the U.S. Senate.

Brewer already has picked former Senate President Ken Bennett, a Prescott Republican, to succeed her as secretary of state. That move does not require state Senate confirmation.

The new governor has promised to sketch out her vision for Arizona in a brief speech during today’s ceremony. But Brewer already has said she intends to pursue a sharply different path in spending practices than her predecessor.

Napolitano leaves behind - and Brewer inherits - the state’s largest ever budget deficit.

The gap between revenues and spending for the balance of this fiscal year is close to $1.6 billion. And if nothing changes, Arizona faces $3 billion in red ink next year.

Brewer has sidestepped questions of where she specifically would cut spending. But she told Capitol Media Services that no part of the budget can be off limits, including state funding of public education.

“We would be in denial if we sat here and said we’re going to solve this without making cuts in education,’’ she said. State aid to schools currently consumes about $4.2 billion of the current $9.9 billion spending plan.

Brewer emphasized that she considers herself a fiscal conservative who does not generally favor higher taxes. But the new governor also said that all options need to be on the table to deliver a balanced budget, including taxes if that becomes necessary.

Whatever Brewer does may have to be done with one eye on the 2010 gubernatorial race, when she is expected to seek a full fouryear term of her own. Arizona voters have charted a relatively moderate path in choosing their governors of late, picking Napolitano in 2002 and again in 2006 over more fiscally conservative Republicans.

Democrat Terry Goddard, currently the state attorney general, is expected to seek his party’s nomination to challenge Brewer. Others mentioned include Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Jim Pederson, former state Democratic Party chairman.

By way of historical note, Brewer actually is the 22nd person to become governor since Arizona became a state in 1912. George W.P. Hunt was in and out of office three separate times, making him the state’s first, third and fifth governor.