In April 1940 Anchimaa became the Chair of the Presidium of Little Khural, the head of state for the Tuvan People's Republic. In doing so she became the first female head of state in the modern era not to inherit the title. In doing so she surpassed the achievement of fellow Communist Alexandra Kollontai, who had become the world's first female government minister in 1917. However, the Tuvan Republic's lack of diplomatic recognition, the scant information and reporting available outside the Soviet Union concerning the extremely isolated nation, Operation Weserübung and the imminent invasion of France meant that this milestone went unnoticed for some time. She would also hold the record as the longest serving non-royal female head of state until Vigdís Finnbogadóttir broke it in 1985. In 1940 she also married the General Secretary of the TNRP Salchak Toka. She retained her maiden name after marriage (which was very common among the communists and revolutionaries) and only changed it after her husband died in 1973. The marriage was of two of the Tuvan Republic's most powerful political figures, and together Anchimaa and Toka would dominate Tuvan politics for the next three decades.