Born Jacqueline Doliveux, she is the daughter of a livestock dealer in Montoire-sur-le-Loir, Martial. His wife Madeleine worked with him. Her husband, Gérard, took over the horse breeding of his father.[2] A history and geography teacher, including at high school Sainte-Marie de Blois, she became active in politics in 1974, during the campaign of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
In the weeks prior to the 1993 legislative election, Gourault emerged on the departmental political scene by campaigning against SocialistJack Lang, then Mayor of Blois. Although he was reelected with 51.5% of the vote, she managed to have his election nullified by the Constitutional Council, which also sentenced him to one year of ineligibility. In the 1994 by-election, the Socialist candidate Michel Fromet, Jack Lang's substitute in 1993, was elected with 59.7% of the vote. In 1997, she returned for the legislative election and was again defeated (46.8%) by Lang.
In 2014, Gourault returned as a municipal councillor of La Chaussée-Saint-Victor on the list led by Stéphane Baudu, who subsequently assumed the mayorship.
Gourault was reelected a Senator for Loir-et-Cher in the first round, with 53.2% of the vote, in the 2011 Senate election. In October 2014, she was elected to the vice presidency of the Senate.[4]
On 12 December 2017, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe entrusted Gourault with the informal function of monitoring the "Corsican file", following the victory of the nationalists in the territorial election.[9] In 2018, Philippe mandated her with the mission of opening the dialogue between the local elected officials of the Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin to organise the merger of these two departments.[10]
On 5 March 2022 a relatively minor cabinet reshuffle was announced, with Jacqueline Gourault stepping down and being replaced in her role as Minister of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities by Secretary of State Joël Giraud.[12] On the same day, she was appointed to the Constitutional Council. She took office on 14 March 2022.[13]