James H. "Jim" Brown - Secretary of State, 1980-1988

Secretary of State, 1980-1988

Brown did not seek a third term in the state Senate in the 1979 primary. Instead, he ran in the primary for Secretary of State to succeed Paul J. Hardy, then a Democrat, but later a Republican, who, at thirty-seven, ran unsuccessfully for governor. Brown faced a formidable challenger, it appeared, in the popular Sandra Thompson of Monroe, who had been the Secretary of Tourism, Recreation, and Culture in the administration of Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. Thompson led rather comfortably the primary, but Brown ran sufficiently strong to gain a general election berth. Thompson polled 504,808 votes (40.8 percent) to Brown's 391,849 ballots (31.7 percent). An African American candidate, Ben Jeffers, received 253,764 votes (20.5 percent). Republican candidate Dick Bruce, a New Orleans advertising executive who stressed tourism and international trade, polled 85,870 votes (6.9 percent).

Therefore, Brown had time to increase his support to that of an actual majority. Brown secured nearly all the votes obtained by Jeffers, and most of Bruce's supporters went with Thompson. Brown won the general election with 665,608 votes (51.1 percent) to her 617,907 (48.9 percent). The percent for Brown and Jeffers from the primary was a combined 52.2 percent, or 1.1 percentage points more than Brown had finally received. Thompson and Bruce in the first round of balloting had a combined 47.7 percent, or 1.2 percentage points below what Thompson finally received.

Brown's Senate seat reverted to an intraparty opponent, the outspoken conservative Dan Richey, also of Ferriday, who would hold the seat for one term. Years later, Brown and Richey would often be sparring rivals in blogs and columns. About all they had in common, it seemed, was a Ferriday background. The small town of Ferriday is also the birthplace of several famous Americans: the evangelist Jimmy Swaggart and his cousins, rock and roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis and Houston bar owner Mickey Gilley. Also from Ferriday were the late television journalist Howard K. Smith and the World War II hero Major General Claire Chennault, who, though born in Texas, grew up on a plantation near Waterproof in Tensas Parish but spent time in Ferriday as a youth. And there was the longtime Louisiana superintendent of education, Shelby M. Jackson, who grew up in the Monterey community near Ferriday.

As secretary of state, Brown proposed major legislation to update Louisiana's archaic election laws. He built what is considered the best state archives building in the country and made it convenient for researchers and historians seeking information from the files. And he streamlined the state’s corporation laws to make Louisiana more business friendly. The Shreveport Times called Brown "the best secretary of state in Louisiana history," and the Public Affairs Research Council labeled his office the most efficient in state government. Such accolades led to Brown being unopposed for a second term as secretary in the 1983 primary.